A Thousand Years of Secrecy
by sedemihcrA
Summary: SxA? In the near future NERV and SEELE fight over a secret so deadly it will unravel mankind. But NERV has two secret weapons: the killing machines known as Envoys and the S2 Engine.
1. Rescue Redemption

**Neon Genesis Evangelion**

**A Thousand Years of Secrecy**

"_The Templar Knights discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls_

_during the Crusades in the Dark Ages._

_When they returned home_

_their order was divided:_

_those who sought to use the scrolls for attaining Godhood_

_and those who believed that the prophecy contained_

_was none other than the same foretold in Revelations._

_The end of the world._

_Those after Godhood would become renowned as the Illuminati,_

_a cover for their true council of leaders: SEELE._

_And those who fought them:_

_The Children of Light, or NERV._

_Their secret war has waged for nearly a millennium._

_This is its conclusion."_

_

* * *

_

Disclaimer: I own neither Evangelion nor Altered Carbon (or any other book in the Takeshi Kovachs series). If either Gainax or Mr. Morgan have an issue with any of the content presented, please contact me by e-mail to remove it.

Quick A/N: **This is NOT a crossover.** This is an AU. The disclaimer is only there to fool you. I promise. Read it.

**One – **_Rescue / Redemption_

"_In the end times, there will come to be another Judas. A great betrayer of betrayers. His name shall be Hayt."_

"He's what, barely out of high school, if that."

"Orders from the top. You know how it is."

"Shit, whatever. Let's get this over with."

The cool sensation of the handgun's muzzle slid up against his scalp. The soft darkness settled over him. Becoming him. And he was empty.

Empty of every feeling, every thought, every sensation: the hate for the two JSSDF soldiers; the oozing discomfort from the wound in his side, leaking his insides onto the floor; the residual guilt of having been sloppy enough to actually wind up shot; the stink of disinfectant throughout the storage room; it all died away into a vast unfeeling ocean.

It was the Envoy conditioning in full. Just like she had taught him.

He kept his head down, pressed against the indigo knees of his Plugsuit.

"Sorry kid, it's nothing personal."

"You would say that..." he muttered into the collar as the progressive knife slid out from under his wrist.

* * *

"The personal, as everyone's so fucking fond of saying, is political. So if some idiot politician, some power player, tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, take it personally. Get angry. The Machinery of Justice will not serve you here—it is slow and cold, and it is theirs, hardware and soft-. Only the little people suffer at the hands of Justice; the creatures of power slide out from under with a wink and a grin. If you want justice, you will have to claw it from them. Make it personal. Do as much damage as you can. Get your message across. That way you stand a far better chance of being taken seriously next time. Of being considered dangerous. And make no mistake about this: being taken seriously, being considered dangerous, marks the difference—the only difference in their eyes—between players and little people. Players they will make deals with. Little people they liquidate. And time and again they cream your liquidation, your displacement, your torture and brutal execution with the ultimate insult that it's just business, it's politics, it's they way of the world, it's a tough life, and that it's nothing personal. Well, fuck them. Make it personal."  
-Quellcrist Falconer

* * *

The man made a noise like a chicken clucking as he choked down his own vomit and blood; it coursed back into his stomach and out onto his chest through his torn open trachea. Shock and pain splattered across his expression, bulging eyes and clenched teeth. The soldier struggled to raise the pistol towards Shinji as he planted his foot firmly on the Kevlar chest piece and fired another round into the man's cranium, ending the feeble gesture. 

_Make it personal._

He rubbed the sides of the vibrating knife on the uniform's sleeve until the blood was sufficiently gone. He switched it off at the handle and slid it back into the bottom of his right wrist. It disappeared, re-bonding itself with the Plugsuit's material. The red jumble that was the side of his waist sparked and fizzled as the suit tried and failed to stop the bleeding of its occupant yet again. He did not feel the pain of it this time.

The eighteen-year-old began to strip the two men in the darkness, wriggling into the fatigues so that his Plugsuit was invisible beneath. When he finished with the outer shell of Kevlar he holstered the sidearm on his hip and hefted one of the standard issue rifles off the floor, testing its weight in his hands. He removed the clip and gauged the ammunition left in it; re-mounted it, fingered the switch for semi-automatic, and fired a round into the wall to feel the kick of the weapon. Satisfied, he slipped any spare clips off both soldiers into the pockets of the new uniform.

"Ikari. What are you doing in storage?"

Static hissed over the radio imbed in his eardrum. He grunted and turned the volume down with a motion across the left wrist of the suit.

"Having a picnic. That static is going to make me fucking deaf, Ibuki," he sub-vocalized back through the throat mic.

"Sorry. The JSSDF are struggling with our satellites at the moment. MAGI should have it sorted out in a bit. What is your status?"

He slipped the helmet over his head and secured it tightly, then pulled the combat mask over his mouth and nose, hoping that the disguise would be enough to slip by relatively easy. Relatively, anyway.

"Wounded. Grazing gunshot on my left side. Plugsuit's architecture has sustained minor damage. Thermoptic chameleoflage is inoperable; the tourniquet function's gone too. The op is still a go."

"Ikari, the option is still on the table: do you want to abort?"

"Negative." He shook his head, as if his operator might somehow see the gesture. "I'm not leaving her behind."

"Don't let personal feelings cloud your judgment."

He laughed bitterly, rubbing at the stubble of his chin under the dark fabric of the mask.

"You, of all people, should not be questioning me in that field, lieutenant."

There was a pause on the other end of the line. A white piece of plastic from the other uniform's pocket caught his eye as he slung the rifle's shoulder strap; it was roughly credit card sized, with a black strip running down one side.

"Ayanami can only engage the surface for so long. If you're going to make a move for the sub-commander it has to be now."

"Understood. I'm on my way to the command deck now."

He ascended the steps leading out of the room, his footfall echoing into the chamber with the weight of his new equipment.

"What are you going to do, just walk in?" This time it was Doctor Akagi's nicotine heavy voice, scratching the inside of his ears.

"Yeah, something like that," he said, tucking the plastic away into a breast pocket.

* * *

Unflinching red eyes watched as yet another entrance erupted in a fireball of screaming soldiers and shredding steel. Two Japanese military aircraft shrieked overhead before the thunder of the collapsing tunnel had ceased, the roar of their supersonic engines booming at low altitude. The towering pine trees of the forest swayed around her with a suck of air from the passing jets, pines shedding free like a green snow storm. 

"Entrance four threat has been neutralized. Air support is intensifying," she spoke, her voice soft and airy as she waved an errant needle free of short cobalt hair.

The lithe figure kneeled on the bluff, watching as the JSSDF emblem on the side of the APC disappeared in the orange glow and black smoke of napalm rounds. She made no sound, save rustling through the motions of reloading the immense recoilless rifle by her side. The gray folds and shapes of the thing shifted in a vaguely organic way as it ejected the empty clip from its belly. It looked all the more huge and lethal beside her tiny figure. Unfathomable eyes twitched back and forth as a small hand retrieved the next clip off the back compartment of her Plugsuit and clicked it into place. The gray folds of the weapon crawled back up her arm, stopping below the shoulder. The thing flexed easily with her as she tried bending her elbow.

"Requesting new target."

"Acquiring now. Ammunition check?"

"Three clips in reserve, one loaded."

"Roger. MAGI are uploading now."

She stayed kneeling besides the gray shapes of the weapon, as the white collar of her suit began projecting, ghosting its transparency across the burning rubble of the previous target. An aerial view of the new target rotated before her face as the briefing started.

"MAGI have targeted supply elevator sixteen as the most effective hostile. Distance from your current position is approximately point nine kilometers. Enemy presence is confirmed. Possible armored personnel vehicles and/or light artillery. Optimal threat distance is one fifty meters to target on the north western ridgeline."

The image switched to a map of the surrounding area along with her suggested route to the ridge traced in white.

"Heavy enemy presence is expected. Proceed with extreme caution. Good luck, Ayanami."

"Roger. My ETA is two minutes. Going silent. Ayanami out."

The ghostly image of the hologram before her disappeared and then so did she. Her gun slid into nothing after a moment's pause as well.

_Hurry, Ikari._

_

* * *

_

"I can't think of a much better test, wouldn't you agree?"

"Rei will have no problems. Asuka scored well enough that this should be a piece of cake for her. Shinji is in the most compromising position."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

"I had a feeling you'd say that," Ritsuko sighed. "Still I wish we had something a little less... high stakes for their first mission together."

"Asuka arrived as soon as the Third Branch could prep her. We won't be receiving the Fourth Child from the US until they finalize Plug 03's activation tests. You know this," Fuyutsuki spoke softly, calm.

Around the two of them, the command center was scrambling. The three operators directly in front of them were concealed by their seats, their only presence a staccato of typing as they frantically up-loaded and re-wrote pieces of the Plugsuit coding according to the MAGI's specifications; this in addition to keeping track of enemy movements over the satellite networks and the synch ratios for each of the operatives. The rest of the bridge was awash in the constant back-and-forth of technicians and combat analysts, relaying the most important of MAGI updates verbally to the rest of the room. Controlled chaos. Fuyutsuki wouldn't have it any other way.

Hard eyes stared into the rainbow of holographic tactical displays with what seemed to be a squint that was perpetually etched in the man's face. His posture was flawless. Graying hair and a pair of oddly anachronistic white gloves. Ritsuko stood to his right, where Misato would have been normally if she wasn't already running around on the sub-deck with the three operators by this part of the operation; if she wasn't being held captive in the Geofront.

"Perhaps it's just wishful thinking on my part then, that we could have lost HQ at a more opportune time. Or the sub-commander for that matter." She took a sip of her black coffee.

"Katsuragi-san will be back with us shortly. And as for the old headquarters... well, that's why we have Asuka I suppose."

She turned and looked at the man carefully while he remained immobile, eyes fixed forward as if oblivious to her presence beside him.

"The Rail Device. The UN won't stand for that."

"Surely. It will be added to the N2 Non-proliferation Treaty shortly hereafter no doubt."

"You don't think that will... excite our investors?"

"The investigative committee will be far too enthralled with the N2 Mine used on Tokyo-3 to bother with us. The Japanese government has overplayed their hand, SEELE as well."

"Ikari..."

Both stood like statues before the ghostly transparencies of maps and data.

"I'm sorry," she began.

"He has made his choices. So have I."

* * *

"Auf Weidersehen." 

She waved as the thunder of the NERV Aeroflot screamed back into the stratosphere. She pulled an errant strand of the wind-whipped red hair free from her face as she began leaping down the steep decline of the rock quarry with casual grace.

She disappeared into a crack in the cliff face, flitting into the darkness in one swift motion.

"Souryu, this is Aoba. Have you located the weapon yet?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm working on it," she spoke, prodding at the empty air in front of her. Her hand stopped on something and she tugged hard. A gray sheet pulled over something monstrously huge blinked into existence in the middle of the cave; she began pulling off the gray chameleofabric.

"This is our first mission together, Second Child. I look forward to a successful run."

"Likewise," she replied, struggling with the sheet.

"Make sure not to forget the projector, Souryu."

"Oh right," she mumbled to herself, startled by the ESP-like sense of her operator.

She retrieved a small round object out of the back of her crimson Plugsuit, setting it down at the edge of the cliff. It clicked on after a moment's pause and the cave suddenly looked from the outside as nothing more than an empty fissure in the cliff face once again. No red Plugsuit, no gray behemoth.

She returned to the sheet, finally pulling it free of the massive folds of the thing. It was the size of a passenger bus, easily taking up almost the entire cavern. Two massive beams jutted out of its front, bolted into the granite. One out of the back. The barrel stretched the full length of the cave; the front was two flat gunmetal prongs, almost sticking out of the rock face like the biggest tuning fork she'd ever seen; the back was a bulbous cylinder, smooth, huge, and featureless. Just above the spot where the three planted struts converged in a tripod was a seat offset to the bulk of the weapon with an imposing targeting monocle hovering just above it.

Asuka whistled.

"Now _that_ is a gun."

"The Rail Device is not a toy, Souryu."

"If you were standing where I was right now you would understand why that thought never crossed my mind," she snapped back, irritated.

"I'm fully aware of the specifications—"

"Forget it. Let's just get on with it, shall we?"

"Agreed."

_Why is everyone I meet in this job such a bore?_

She moved over to the floating seat and hopped into it, reclining in the plush leather with a pleased sigh. She had to admit NERV knew how to do _some_ things right.

"Engage the targeting monocle and let it communicate with your Plugsuit. The scope should turn on when this process is complete. Then target the center of the lake. The MAGI will verify targeting placement and take care of any error-correction necessary."

She slid the visor over her eyes, resting her hand around the fighter-plane knob of the trigger on the right armrest. Her view telescoped in on the blue expanse of water directly above the Geofront.

"The MAGI will transmit the firing codes when the mission is a go. I assume you know what to do from there."

"You assume correctly."

* * *

"Hey bitch, you like that?" 

He slapped her again.

"I said: do you like that, bitch?"

The voice was weak, almost broken, when it spoke.

"Kiss... my ass."

He kicked her in the stomach and she moaned as she toppled over in the chair.

"Fuckin' slut. We'll teach you not to talk back." Another kick to her crumpled form on the floor. A different man this time.

"Ishida, stand her back up. I wanna have some more fun."

"Yes, sir."

"You know, you're lucky. We're just supposed to keep you alive until the real interrogators come pick you up. They'll do things to ya' that you wouldn't _believe_ you could feel. Professionals, they are."

"..."

"Oh, don't feel like talkin' eh? Let's see if this'll make you say something."

He began putting the cigarette out in her palm. She screamed as the embers burned into the flesh. He withdrew it and returned it to his mouth, taking long drag on the tobacco.

"How's that feel, bitch? Not so tough anymore."

She was crying softly.

"Not so fun being helpless huh? What do you have to say for yourself, Katsuragi?"

"Die scum."

But it was not her voice.

Gunshots rang out over the command deck. The man with cigarette collapsed forward onto a shocked Misato, a neat little whole centered in his forehead. A whirlwind of white and blue something tumbled through an entrance amidst the clatter of automatic gunfire.

She could not hear the panicked JSSDF shouting at one another as a soldier was kicked over one of the railings; his head was twisted around at an impossible angle, dead before he'd reached the floor three stories down. Two more crumpled onto consoles beside her, crying out as their insides painted over the keyboards behind them.

Then Shinji was approaching her, holding a soldier in front of him with a pistol pressed against his temple. The other remaining soldier kept his rifle on Shinji, frozen in place before the fearless killer. He'd torn a room full of ten men to two in less than ten seconds.

"Stop right there."

Shinji kept advancing as he spoke.

"I'm going to count to three. Then I'm going shoot your comrade in the head if you haven't put the gun down and gotten on your knees, hands in the air." His voice remained matter-of-fact, as if detached from the whole situation.

"I said stop, mutherfucker!" The man sighted his rifle while his comrade trembled in Shinji's grip.

Shinji kept walking.

"Three."

"Please! Listen to him Ishida."

"Fucking STOP! Right now, or I'll shoot!"

He took another step forward.

"Two."

"Ishida! For the love of God, do what he says!"

"One."

Shinji ejected the man's brains onto the floor while kicking the rifle out of the grip of the other in one smooth motion. The weapon sailed through the air and out of sight into the chamber below them. Defenseless, the solider lowered to his knees. Shinji placed the barrel of the handgun against his forehead, watching him through inhuman eyes.

"Shinji-kun..." Misato whispered, kicked free of her trance. "Don't, please. He's unarmed."

"Do you have children, Ishida?" he asked the kneeling man, ignoring her plea.

The man nodded very carefully. Tears were streaming down his cheeks.

"Yes. I have two little boys." His voice shook as he said it.

"So if I killed you right now, they'd be growing up without their father, correct?" He pulled the hammer back on the pistol as he spoke.

"Yes. That's right," he whispered as the streams tears ran off his cheeks.

Shinji smashed the butt of the pistol against the man's temple and watched him collapse, passed out. Misato exhaled.

"I knew you'd come," she said to him as he engaged the progressive knife and began slicing through the binds over her wrists.

"Are you wounded?" he asked as he worked through the ties on her ankles.

"I've been better," she said, wincing as he scooped her out of the chair with one hand.

They stood face to face. He looked at her finally. She had bruises on her cheeks the same shade as her lavender hair. A black eye too. But the woman he loved was still there, underneath it all. Beautiful as ever, eyes brimming with tears. He held her in his arms, their eyes locked on one another and soft breathing the only noise between them.

_I promised I'd come back for you._

"Sensei, I thought you should have this back," he dug into a pocket on his hip and retrieved a white crucifix threaded by thin black string. He tied the necklace for her so that the white piece rested just above where her breasts came together. As if it had been there all along. Just like always.

"Shinji-kun..." She pulled him closer and hugged him, brushing away the free-falling tear as she put her head on his shoulder. "Thank you."

* * *

"Target neutralized. Requesting next target." 

"Affirmative. Awaiting MAGI confirmation."

Rei moved through the methodical motions of reloading the recoilless rifle. As the gray shapes shifted and re-adjusted on her arm the radio in her ear came back to life.

"Change of mission priorities. Make your way to extraction point Delta." A new hologram appeared from her collar, a new route traced in white on the map. "From there set up a perimeter and wait for the retrieval fighters to touchdown. When Ikari and the sub-commander are surface-side provide cover until the fighter has successfully captured them. Your mission is over once the fighter has both of them. Your own fighter will be arriving on a two-second delay. Is your mission clear, Ayanami?"

"Roger. Proceeding to extraction point Delta now."

_Sensei is safe now. Ikari has her. The mission is almost over._

_

* * *

_

"Ikari has recovered the sub-commander. He is now on his way to the nearest safe entrance as designated by the MAGI," Maya reported to her superiors.

Ritsuko could not suppress a tiny smirk at the news. Fuyutsuki remained expressionless.

"Aoba, prep the firing codes for transmission to the Rail Device."

"Yes, sir."

"Hyuuga, have Rei move to the designated extraction point and set up cover for their exit."

"Yes, sir."

"Ibuki, double-check enemy activity at the exit via satellite and then re-check the marker Shinji planted at Central Dogma."

"Yes, sir."

Fuyutsuki exhaled slowly, raising a gloved hand to rub at his brow.

"Something wrong, commander?" Ritsuko saw the unease on his resolute features clearly, an ability she'd picked up from working with the man for so long.

"You know I don't like it when you call me that. And yes, there is."

She watched him from behind her coffee mug, waiting. Fuyutsuki valued patience more than any other attribute or any normal human for that matter.

"With Shinji and Misato both injured and he accommodating her movement, they are extremely vulnerable to a flanking maneuver or ambush. And I have my suspicions..."

"Sir!" It was Maya. "Heavy enemy presence reported in Central Dogma by Ikari's marker buoy. MAGI estimates between twenty-five and thirty heavy exo-skeleton type armored infantry—"

"Cross-referencing with all currently known and hacked JSSDF troop specifications returns no positive ID! They aren't Japanese, sir. That's for sure," Shigeru cut in.

"Hmm." Fuyutsuki clasped his hands in a gesture that was instantly recognizable to Ritsuko. Something he must have picked up from his time spent with Gendou.

"Ibuki, inform Shinji of the threat behind them. They will be tracing his route with Misato as we speak and possibly preparing for an ambush at the exit point. Hyuuga, instruct Rei to prepare for heavy resistance and/or enemy presence at the landing site. Aoba, begin cross-referencing marker data recovered with German government black projects started in the last ten years. Begin with those contracted to the Marduk Institution."

"Do you think it's..." Ritsuko looked at him, eyes widening behind the rims of her glasses. Fuyutsuki nodded fractionally.

"It seems SEELE was more eager to retrieve Katsuragi than we anticipated."

* * *

"Ikari here, what seems to be the problem?" he said, mashing the button for the highest floor the elevator had access to. 

"Roger. Understood."

Misato watched him as she sat in the corner, knees pulled up to meet her chest. She recognized the clenched muscles along his jaw line, one that she now found oddly reminiscent of Kaji's. The five-o'clock shadow was almost disorienting to her. Shinji had transformed from a geeky-looking teenager into a handsome young man right under her eyes.

"What is it, Shinji?"

"Not the JSSDF, that much is clear."

"SEELE?" She said the name slowly.

He shut his eyes, sighing.

"That would be my guess. Unfortunately."

"Damn."

Shinji watched the floors tick away, thoughts churning. Misato's expression was one of similar intensity. The elevator stopped. It was not at the floor Shinji had pressed.

He was already wrenching open the doors, the Plugsuit whirring to life as it re-diverted strength to his arm muscles. He popped the first set open, then the outer set for the floor they were on. The elevator whined in protest, internal alarms screaming at them to leave the doors closed.

"Out. Now!"

Misato sprung from her sitting position, skidding out onto the floor with a grunt. He did the same and the elevator dropped away an instant later, magnetic tracks sparking with electricity into the gloom of the shaft.

"They're closer than we thought," Shinji said, panting slightly from the adrenaline, not the exertion.

"They'll already be coming up on the closest lines to sweep this floor."

"The stairs, then."

Misato looked at the giant red number painted next to the familiar leaf on the wall next to them.

"Twenty floors on this leg? We'll both be dead."

"I'll carry you."

They headed for the stairs.

* * *

"Release the recovery fighters from their evade pattern now and initiate retrieval programming." 

"Roger. One-minute and thirty-two seconds until touch down at point Delta."

"The Third Child and sub-commander Katsuragi are at the twelfth floor now."

"What now, Fuyutsuki?"

"Have the MAGI hack any available safety locks between their stairwell and the nearest four elevator shafts on floors between twenty and two. Aoba, you may send the firing codes to the Rail Device but do not unlock the trigger safety yet. Have Asuka standby to fire. Prep the trigger release for my mark."

Ritsuko stared at him.

"The priority for this mission was altered when SEELE's presence was confirmed. We cannot let them have a functioning S2 Engine at any cost. That is now the top priority for this mission. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir," the three operators said in unison.

"But Shinji and Rei..." she said quietly. He nodded.

"I know. There's nothing I can do anymore," he replied. "Ibuki, release the activation codes for Plug 01's S2 Unit and inform Shinji."

* * *

He heard the pressure sensitive feet two floors above him first. He stopped and lowered Misato to the floor silently, putting a gloved finger to his lips. 

She watched his Adam's apple bob as he sub-vocalized something into the throat mic. Then the fluorescent lights snapped off, throwing them into pitch black darkness. Until the navy orb imbedded into the stomach of his Plugsuit began to glow an odd shade of green, the only light in the stairwell. Other than the red glow of four laser sights on the far wall up the steps from the two of them.

* * *

"Ayanami, load all remaining ammunition into your weapon, explosive rounds first." 

"Affirmative."

"Your target is an extremely well-armored infantry unit. Use HV ammunition only for these targets. Its weak points are the legs and arms, particularly the shoulder joint. Do not aim for the head or body. Disable the firing arm first, then one or both of the legs."

"Understood."

"Plug 01 has engaged several of them in the stairwell. When he has exited the surface entrance at a safe distance, use your remaining explosive ammunition to collapse the structure and provide any additional cover as needed."

"Yes, sir."

"Your pick-up ETA is one minute."

_Ikari. You must fight. You must win._

_

* * *

_

"Ikari has engaged the exo-armor units in the stairwell again! He is trapped on floor five now."

"ETA to retrieval touchdown is forty seconds!"

"Release the trigger lock on the Rail Device and instruct Souryu to fire."

Aoba turned back, looking up at his commander in shock. So did the other two operators. He had already explained the possibility of this outcome but their open mouths gaped at him.

"Commander..." Ritsuko was looking at him now also.

"Do it!" the old man hissed. Aoba and the other two turned back around. "We cannot afford to lose the S2 to the enemy," he said softly.

"But..."

* * *

"You want me to what?" Asuka was furious. 

"But there are still operatives engaged on the ground!"

_My fellow Envoys, the First and Third Child. I haven't even met them yet._

"I don't care if it was a direct order from the almighty himself, I'm not pulling this trigger!" she shouted back, removing her hand from the knob.

"Oh yeah? Well you can go fuck yourself then. Because I'm not shooting until I see two of our fighters leaving the surface. Souryu out!"

She withdrew her Plugsuit's computer terminal from the material over her forearm and began to type furiously, hooking a wire into the I/O port on the armrest.

* * *

"Thirty seconds to touchdown." 

"Manually override her firing control and activate the Rail Device immediately."

"Yes, sir."

Fuyutsuki's brooding was cut short by Aoba's panicked yelp.

"I... I can't, sir! Souryu seems to have changed the password!"

"What?" Fuytuski was standing now, furious.

"Impressive," Ritsuko whispered off to his side.

"Have the MAGI re-assert their control of the weapon!"

"She's cut the satellite link entirely! MAGI are de-scrambling the encryption now. Thirty-three seconds to re-establish contact."

"Damn that insolent little brat!"

"Very impressive," Ritsuko whispered again. "Kyoko's talent was clearly not exaggerated."

* * *

Too much. It was. Too. Much. Blood trickling down the side of his head. Misato in his arms. Her face was pale, tired. The light of the entrance before them, close enough to touch. 

More gunfire. Behind him. The green flash of the S2 field again. The bullets could not reach them now. He could not stop moving.

_Almost there. Almost._

Outside. The entrance behind him crumbling into red flames. A black shape emerging from the fire. Pointing something at him.

_Just a little more._

Something dark above him. A speck in the sky. Growing huge. Then it was on them both. And he was being pressed down into something soft and dark. Down down down. Harder and harder on his chest. Until he couldn't breathe. He could not. Breathe!

A flash of white from behind. Then nothing.

_One Fin_

_

* * *

_

Notes: Holy AU, Batman! Okay so that was a little fast there. I tried to cut out every detail I felt was unnecessary. It might have been a little too fast to catch everything that was going on, although, if you pay attention, you should have a pretty good idea. I find I have to slow down a little when I read this chapter so I catch every little piece.

I was going to have an entry hacked from the Marduk Institution's brochure advertising the exo-armor but it got so big that it ended up ruining the flow of the chapter so I cut it completely. Since that armor is probably going to be appearing several more times, if anyone wants to see a full description of it let me know in your review and I may put it after chapter two.

So uh. Hate it? Love it? Boring? I'd like to know really. This is a first for me in that it is my first Eva story on this site (although I have started and given up on plenty of others) and my first shot at this style of writing.

Japanese lesson for this chapter:

-Sensei means "teacher." That's an easy one, I know.

-One of the possible meanings of ikari is "hate" but this is not the intended meaning of the Kanji for Shinji's last name: that meaning is "anchor." (All my prop are belong to dunnerat)


	2. Quellist Resignation

**Neon Genesis Evangelion**

**A Thousand Years of Secrecy**

Disclaimer: I own neither Evangelion nor Altered Carbon (or any other book in the Takeshi Kovachs series). If either Gainax or Mr. Morgan have an issue with any of the content presented, please contact me by e-mail to remove it.

Quick A/N: God I cannot for the life of me figure out what do with this chapter. There are several clues for stories that will become resolved further into the piece which I think pardons it from being overly slow. Plus there's some development of the three children and the circumstance of chapter one. Hopefully.

* * *

**Two – **_Quellist / Resignation_

"_And the burning city would smoke for one thousand days and one thousand nights, its charred remains a warning to all: tread lightly, there are great and powerful things afoot."_

"Unacceptable. Simply unacceptable."

The tense nature of the debriefing room was tactile; like a bar full of drunken sailors waiting to throw fists and it was only a matter of when. The old man was furious again, but for once the fury was directed entirely away from him. Shinji had grown used to taking the brunt of the criticism after every operation, regardless of success. He was too "unscripted" for Fuyutsuki's taste, preferring to get things done rather than do them by the book. The man scowled at all of them, equal opportunity disappointment reeking from his posture. However, this time he focused on Shinji's new comrade and recent acquaintance: Asuka.

"I'm not even going to bother lecturing you about how your actions were completely out of line: disobeying a direct order, hacking into NERV property without permission, altering said property, infiltrating the MAGI satellite network... the list goes on. But you already knew that."

The new operative from Germany didn't make any indication that she did in fact know "that." As if she was watching the whole thing happen to somebody else. That may have been her demeanor or the Envoy condition, he couldn't tell. Shinji studied her firm silence from the corner of his eye. She had been taking the brow beating rather gracefully thus far.

She was tall, thin, and alluringly foreign. The blue eyes alone were enough to be intoxicating to his Japanese sensibilities. And the red hair danced like smoldering flames above her head when she moved about. She had high cheek bones and the sort of facial structure that revealed a possible Japanese background of some sort, lost amidst the European skin. From her last name and fluency with the language he assumed a parent must have been Japanese or something near it. Nevertheless, she spoke her Japanese with a sort of accent that was oddly entertaining, thick and loud; there was no femininity in her speech patterns, whether on purpose or not he wasn't sure. She'd taken the synch nodes and re-purposed them as ties for her pigtails, an act he suspected spoke deeply about her attitude towards this job. Perhaps if they'd just met on the street he might have asked for her phone number.

_If only she weren't an ally. If only she weren't an Envoy. If, if, if..._

Fuyutsuki continued, oblivious to his daydreaming.

"No, Asuka, I'll spare you the rules you broke and just try to give you a taste of how enormously stupid and reckless it was."

Shinji stopped himself from yawning at yet another bad debriefing. He suspected the gesture would have not gone over well given the tone of the commander so far.

"You almost gave SEELE a back door into the only piece of technology, the only resource we have, that they cannot reproduce. It is our singular advantage in this war and it goes without saying it would be disastrous for it to have fallen into their hands. Am I making myself clear?"

She nodded slowly, the blue eyes locking onto the man for an instant.

"Good, then while were at it, let me explain one of the finer points of Envoy conditioning to you which Kaji seemed to have neglected during his time spent teaching you in Germany: orders are to be followed. Without orders there is only chaos. I don't think I have to explain how that applies, do I?"

"No, sir." She said it almost on par with Rei's coldness, but then, Rei was Rei; anyone colder than her wouldn't have a pulse.

"Then, if I may ask, for what possible reason did you concoct this ridiculous scheme?"

"To recover Sub-commander Katsuragi and successfully complete the mission, sir." Misato winced at the comment, the guilt ill-concealed behind her bruising. Fuyutsuki turned to Shinji, eyes aglow with something unfamiliar.

"As I'm sure Mr. Ikari will tell you later, he has tried a few 'unorthodox' methods in the past for the sake of a mission, not without their reprimands." He returned his attention to her. "However, as your operator instructed you, the mission changed, did it not?"

"Yes, sir, it did."

"Then what prompted you to not complete _that_ mission successfully?"

"Sir, I estimated that Agents Ikari and Ayanami could still complete the original objective and satisfy the new mission priority simultaneously."

"Based on what?"

"My conditioning, sir."

"Bullshit, you haven't even met either one of them until this debriefing. Give me a real answer, Agent Souryu." Shinji covered a flicker of surprise. Fuyutsuki was not one to swear lightly. Asuka was doing a good job pushing his buttons, almost as well as Shinji could do if he was in the mood for it.

"Sir, I knew that I could still uphold the new mission while giving my fellow operatives a chance to complete the original one. For the value of the sub-commander, both Plugsuits, and the operatives' abilities, I chose to provide myself the opportunity to wait until they could be extracted safely before taking my shot."

"We did not train you to make choices, Souryu. Your only priority is the mission, is that clear?"

"'Beware of any man who tells you how or when to make your own choices. He is your enemy.'"

Misato covered her shock at the reply with a throaty cough. Ritsuko betrayed an odd amusement in her expression, content to merely observe. Rei, of course, had no discernible reaction. Shinji could not help but turn and stare at the new girl. It was not so much the audacity of the statement: he had never heard anyone else quote Quell before with any accuracy.

"What was that, Agent Souryu?"

"Only the mission, sir. Understood." She betrayed none of the venom of her previous reply.

"Good. You'll receive no pay for the month and I want a ten-page written report about your Envoy training, specifically the section on orders. And that is me being lenient, Miss Souryu."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."

"This debriefing is over."

"One more thing, commander," Shinji said, raising a hand.

"Yes, what is it Shinji?" All eyes were on him now.

He held up the papers for emphasis. "This is a formal declaration of my resignation, sir."

Now it was Asuka's turn to stare at him, jaw agape.

* * *

"So you're really quitting?" Her blue eyes watched him, fascination hidden in their depths. 

"Yes, really."

"How come? Lousy pay?" Shinji shook his head, ignoring the joke. The German didn't really seem offended. He was still discontent from the debriefing; Fuyutsuki had refused to accept the resignation and now he would probably have to run away.

"I don't agree with Fuyutsuki's methods," he replied finally.

"He's a real hard ass, that's for sure..." she muttered to no one.

"Fuyutsuki is a very good teacher. The strictness of his instruction makes him a superior commander to most." Rei's lilting voice interjected, edging just over monotone.

"Ahh, so you _can_ speak?" Asuka said, chuckling. Shinji could not help but smirk this time. Rei just stared ahead as they made their way to the dressing rooms, disregarding the jibe.

They followed the instructions Misato had given, a flurry of salutes erupting from any other crew they passed; the formality was rarely returned. The re-commissioned UN cruiser was not akin to the Geofront, claustrophobic in its passages and rooms. Once above the deck, however, there was a magnificent view of the Pacific Ocean to behold as they slowly drifted North, parallel to the Japanese coast nearly one hundred kilometers away. The rest of their UN escort, a small portion of the Navy, encircled them in formation.

Officially speaking, the boat was for evacuees and refugees of Tokyo-3 only, the burning hole in the ground that had only grown deeper and hotter after Asuka blasted it again with the Rail Device. Unofficially, Fuyutsuki had pulled some very big favors along with a few careful disclosures about the Tokyo-3 bombing and SEELE, enough for the UN committee looking into the massacre to salivate over and quietly loan the vessel to NERV "until further notice."

"By the way, I suppose I should thank you... you know, for not shooting us back there." He spoke quietly as they strode deeper into the belly of the ship.

"Oh that?" Asuka grinned. "Yeah I guess you owe me one, eh? I just thought you two deserved a chance. What can I say, I have a thing for defying authority."

Shinji nodded. Rei did not.

"So, uh... you're just quitting because of Mr. Gray-hair back there? No specific reason?"

"_Hey, Shinji! Some day I'll be in NERV just like you man," Kensuke said just as class was about to start._ He shook it away immediately, hoping he betrayed none of it to his companions.

"No reason."

Envoys were incredible liars because they could will themselves into believing an untruth for the sake of a given situation. They could pass a polygraph test with almost no effort on their part; the human reflexes to lying had been programmed out of them during the conditioning. Asuka made no indication if she could tell. Given that they were all three Envoys, it was about a fifty-fifty chance that she did know.

"What about you, blue?" Asuka addressed Rei now. "Are you getting off this boat as well?"

"I will stay here until I am ordered otherwise, Souryu," she replied, not acknowledging the nickname. Asuka squinted at her, a tiny frown on her lips.

"She's not exactly a budding Quellist," Shinji joked, more trying to convince his good mood back than being humorous.

"Ah! You recognized my quote? Man, I thought he was gonna _kill_ me after I said that."

"Dictations on Tyranny and Authority: Remembering to Revolt. One of my favorites," Shinji said, watching her features brighten at the name.

"She's really something else, isn't she?" Asuka replied, looking into the vaulted ceiling dreamily.

"Quell or Rei?" This time they both laughed. Shinji liked the sound of her voice. It reminded him of Misato's thunderous guffaws after nights spent drinking together. Rei blinked at Shinji's betrayal but said nothing.

"What about you, Rei? Read any Quell yourself?" Asuka asked jovially. The other girl shook her head.

"I'll put it this way: Rei would have pulled the trigger," Shinji said.

Rei nodded, completely serious, while Asuka cackled the whole way into the girl's locker room.

* * *

"You wanted to see me, commander." 

"Yes, yes, enough of this 'commander' business. You know how I get when you call me that. To the point: I wanted your evaluation on the little situation we have developing here."

Both the former commander and the new one were unusually cryptic sometimes. She wasn't sure who had picked it up from whom.

"Shinji, you mean?"

His new office was makeshift, just like the rest of the craft they'd relocated to. Fuyutsuki had not sent too many engineers to renovate the ship for fear of alerting SEELE to their evacuation. The only furniture in the room was a Mahogany desk with a single telephone on it and the chair he sat in. It reminded her of Gendou's old office; having never been on this boat before, the resemblance of the two gave her chills standing there.

_They're so similar in some ways._

"Yes, Shinji. Do you think he's serious?" Fuyutsuki said, jarring her back into the conversation.

"Deadly, I'm afraid. He had already said before the evacuation that he was quitting. He did this last operation only because he felt indebted to me."

"And rightly so."

Misato sighed, letting her eyes drift out to the turquoise waves through the windows behind him. He paused, placing a gloved hand to his chin.

"You know we cannot afford to lose him as an operative. He's the best trained of the three."

"Thank you, sir."

Misato's cheeks colored lightly under the compliment as she looked away from her mentor briefly. Had it not been for her bruises, Fuyutsuki would have been able to see it quite easily. She had been in charge of Shinji's conditioning just as Kaji had been in charge of Asuka's.

"Unfortunately, I think his mind is already made up. Maybe if we give him some time to cool off..." she continued.

"I see. So he's still upset about the Tokyo-3 bombing then?"

"Shinji lost some close friends in the N2 Mine. When he knew you'd seen this coming all along he was furious. It was all we could do just to convince him to stay long enough for us to evacuate."

Fuyutsuki's face stayed immobile.

"I do regret the devastation of Tokyo-3 but SEELE chooses when and where to play; only we can choose how, for the moment. Operations won't resume for some time now, but I'd like to maximize the integration of the three of them as unit from here on out."

"Because?"

"I think they all have something to learn from each other."

Rei had been the first child to ever undergo the Envoy conditioning process; Gendou began teaching it to her when she was only eight years old. The quiet little girl had grown even more withdrawn, her personality almost vanishing in the aftermath of the programming.

Asuka was the next to undergo the conditioning at ten, but for espionage purposes, Kaji tried to lighten some of the emotional restrictions on the girl in light of Rei. When she hit adolescence the damage was already done and she was consequently a bit rebellious and wild.

Shinji turned fourteen before Misato began working with him. Having been his guardian for so long and having waited until initial adolescence was stabilized, Shinji was the most balanced of the three so far. Perhaps too compassionate for Fuyutsuki's tastes but balanced.

The Fourth Child, whose programming was being handled by someone in the Second Branch, was said to be developing a bit of an ego problem.

"Well," Misato started, thinking out loud. "I suppose we could all send them on vacation together."

"I was considering something along those lines. China and the US are the only two safe countries without any major players for SEELE posted reasonably high in their governments. China is too close to this recent conflict to be a real option."

"Turn them over to the Second Branch then?"

"It would afford them an opportunity to meet the Fourth Child as well, wouldn't it? However, if word gets out the Asuka has perpetrated an obvious, if not explicit, breach of the N2 Non-proliferation Treaty that would be... unfortunate. Better perhaps to send them there in some other capacity."

"Such as?"

The man grinned at her.

"How about normal children for once?"

_As if they can ever be that again._

Misato caught the look and put her hands on her hips, her expression now somewhat distraught.

"You aren't expecting me to lead this little expedition, right? Not when there's so much work to be done here."

"Nothing Ritsuko and myself shouldn't be able to handle. Besides, who better than an Envoy herself? You're practically his mother anyway."

Misato could not deny the last statement's accuracy so she folded instead.

"A family trip then?"

"How about "refugees from Tokyo-3?" A rescued family and two classmates. Yes. And if one of you is close enough to NERV the US government won't think twice about issuing you all Visas. You're related to one of the staff perhaps, maybe an older uncle working somewhere near the top?" He winked at her.

"Kozuo, your last name isn't Katsuragi," she said dryly, letting her good eye carry the humor of it for the time being. Fuyutsuki smiled.

_Besides your more like a father to me now. After dad died, you were the only one there. The only one who told me the truth._

"Bah, we can make up a decent file ourselves for that. I was only kidding. Besides, you need a vacation after all the unpleasantness recently."

She bowed.

"I'm terribly sorry for having been captured, once again, sensei."

"Nonsense. You placed Shinji's life above your own, just like a good teacher should do. The evacuation was too hasty in hindsight."

"So if I'm going to be the 'mom' on this little expedition, I would assume you're going to assign a 'father' as well."

He nodded.

"Hyuuga?" Her eyes were pleading.

He laughed, short and hoarse as if the idea was absurdly beyond his comprehension.

"Please, please, _please_ don't say who I think you're going to."

"Well he has been out of work since the Third Branch evacuation and Asuka's transfer to here. Plus there's no one else in the Envoy program who has had as much... experience with you as he."

"Oh dear God..." she mumbled, ignoring the double-meaning.

"Yes I would say Agent Ryouji would do nicely, don't you think?"

She grimaced.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" she said.

"I have my small pleasures in life."

* * *

The sun set on the blue horizon, dipping into the azure calm of a cloudless day in the Pacific. As it sank lower and lower, the color slowly phased into a soft orange, reminiscent of the Second Child's hair as it danced in the breeze. She stared out into the distance, watching the orange rays light up the end of the day, a contemplative First Child beside her. 

Asuka leaned over the metal railing, the bottom of her favorite yellow dress now brushing just above her knees. It hadn't appeared as such a tight-fitting cut back in Germany, but now on her eighteen-year-old body, it was just shy of scandalous. She had caught the looks a few of the men on board had given her as the two made their way to the observation deck; they'd given a few to Rei as well.

Her fair-skinned companion was dressed rather plainly. It was unbefitting, Asuka thought, of the girl's elfin features. Rei could have easily looked beautiful if she had wanted to. Her skin was soft and creamy, the typical Japanese ethnicity in full force. But her eyes betrayed an unusual origin. Asuka briefly wondered if perhaps Rei was born an albino, for red was certainly not a common eye color, and the pale shade of her hair and figure did lend credence to this possibility.

"Ahh, isn't this great? The sun on your skin, the breeze on your face. I love the smell of saltwater."

"It is calm." Understatement seemed to be the girl's forte.

"Yeah, what a day. Shinji's really missing out..." Her accented voice fell with disappointment.

"Sometimes one needs to be alone," Rei replied, smoothly enough so as not to indicate if this was also her wish for now. Asuka didn't seem to notice, or more likely, didn't really care.

"I guess so."

The sound of wind and the churning of water filled the silence between them.

"So, what's he like anyways?"

"Ikari?"

"Yeah. You've been working with him for a while now, right?" Asuka clasped the other girl's hand as she spoke. Rei looked down at her pale fingers in the grip as if to say: what is this thing clinging on to me?

"Yes. Shinji and I met four years ago." Rei apparently didn't have much more to say about him than that.

"So?"

"So."

"Ah come on, Rei! Give me some details." Asuka released her and spun away in an odd little pirouette, staring into the darkening sky. "What's his favorite food, what kind of music does he like, is he in to sports?"

"Why do you not ask him these things yourself?" Rei watched her, red eyes glimmering with the strength of the sunset.

"Because you're here and he's not! Duh."

"I see."

"So what, I mean, you guys did live together right? You have to know something about him." Asuka stared at the girl so hard her will to silence was defeated.

"He is... quiet." Asuka frowned at her companion. She hadn't really expected to have to drag the information out.

"He's not the only one around here," she muttered into the breeze. Rei did not respond, stoically still.

"Okay, well I'm sure you know the answer to this one: why's he really quitting?"

"What do you mean, you asked him..." Rei looked at her, head tilted slightly off to the side.

"Oh come on! Like you couldn't tell he was lying either. Your conditioning is supposed to be the sharpest of us three."

The line of Rei's mouth tightened and she relented to the inquiry.

"Shinji lost many friends in the bombing of Tokyo-3. He blames Fuyutsuki for this."

"So that's what it is." Asuka looked away, something sad filling the blue eyes for an instant. "Oh, I'm sorry Rei. You must have lost a lot of friends too."

"Friends?" Rei said the word as if she were pronouncing some obscure chemical compound; the word did not spend a lot of time in her vocabulary.

"Yeah, you have friends right? I mean, everybody has friends, even... quiet people." She barely kept herself from saying weird.

"I suppose not. No. They were acquaintances. But they are gone now."

Asuka was briefly taken aback at the matter-of-fact tone of the girl's voice. The emotional programming was as extreme as the rumors she'd heard. Apparently the former commander had not been a particularly sympathetic man.

"But you don't have any friends, Ayanami? Even Shinji?"

"I suppose Shinji is my friend. Yes, I have a friend."

"Well that's good right? Maybe we can be friends also, Rei." Asuka found herself feeling oddly sorry for the other girl. She wasn't quite all there, it seemed. Not anymore at least. Not since her conditioning.

"That would be... acceptable." Rei did not sound entirely convinced of this herself.

"So, has he hit on you? Been on any dates with him yet?" Asuka was eager to end her comrade's somber tone.

"Dates?" Rei's eyes widened.

"It's okay. I promise I won't tell any one." Asuka winked at the girl, putting a finger to her lips. A conspiratorial grin revealed sharp white teeth. Rei watched the smile, incomprehension filling her otherwise blank expression.

"Ikari and I did not have that kind of relationship with one another."

"Ha ha, yeah right! You think he's a cutie, don't you? I can tell."

"Physical appearance has nothing to do with it," Rei said quickly and Asuka's grin grew even larger as the faintest shades of pink tinged the porcelain cheeks. There were some things even the conditioning could not undo.

"Hahahaha, you're blushing! How cute! So, you like him right?"

"I—what? No, it's not... like that with Shinji."

"What is it like then?" Asuka said, suddenly closing the gap so that their faces hung inches apart. Rei looked aside awkwardly, uncomfortable at the disregard with which the German treated personal space.

"Like a brother and sister, I suppose," Rei said.

"Oh." Asuka sounded a little disappointed. "So you love him then, I guess?"

"Love? I do not know what it is to love. But Shinji understands me. I understand him. That is enough, I think," she said finally, not taking her eyes off of Asuka.

"You're an odd one, Rei. I mean, a guy like him living with you for so long, working with you everyday… and neither of you ever made a move? He isn't gay or something, is he?" Asuka said semi-dreadfully, watching as the intense eyes widened even further.

"Asuka, the Japanese don't usually ask questions like this. It's not polite," Rei said, trying to shun away the confusing ideas brought up by the previous sentence.

She'd seen Shinji look at girls in school before, but she'd never contemplated that his preference might be the other way around. She had always assumed Shinji was like most other boys but now she found herself strangely unsure of the matter. She made a mental note to ask him at some later time. So as to maximize their teamwork and effectiveness in combat, of course.

"Well," Asuka said, turning back to the sun. "I'm just saying, he seems kind of effeminate is all. I mean, everyone lives how they have to live right? I guess if he's into guys, that's... cool." Her expression did not look as if this was in fact "cool."

"You really should not be asking me things like this."

"Ah come on! You want me to ask Misato instead? You do think he's cute though, right?"

"Will we stop talking about his sexual preferences, please?"

"If you answer me then yes, I'll stop."

"Yes, I think Shinji is an attractive young man."

"Victory!" Asuka's clenched fist rose into the fading light of the sun.

Rei watched the gesture, an unfamiliar feeling stretching beneath her. This confrontational girl was an Envoy just like Shinji and herself. And yet so different. Cultural or otherwise, Asuka had an odd way of conversing. And creating feelings like this one in Rei. Could it be that she felt embarrassed? She could not ever remember feeling as such before now.

* * *

"Aha, so we finally meet, Ikari-san."

Shinji turned away from the shrinking fleet in the darkness outside the window of the aircraft to find a tall, mis-shaven man sitting down across from him. He looked to be about Misato's age with a face that seemed to be perpetually on the verge of grinning without ever quite getting there. He wore his hair back in a loose ponytail, offset by his large build and hard jaw line. The man was extending a hand towards him, though he was clearly of Japanese descent. Perhaps that was also why it sounded so odd to hear the honorific after his name.

"Going to have to get used to this," he said. "This is how they greet each other in the West."

Shinji stood abruptly and was about to return the gesture somewhat awkwardly when Misato's voice stopped him from the other side of the cabin. She did not look up from her magazine as she spoke, boredom filling her voice.

"Be careful about touching that, Shinji. It's infected with too much testosterone." It didn't sound to be a joke entirely.

The man made a quick throaty laugh. Shinji shook hands with the stranger tentatively anyway, ignoring the warning.

"Pleased to meet you... um?"

"Kaji is fine. Ryouji Kaji."

"Pleased to meet you, Kaji-san."

"He's cute. I like what you've done," Kaji said to his guardian, too genuine sounding to be a jab.

Misato's raised middle finger proved to be the second foreign gesture of the flight. She turned another page in the magazine, not giving the man any further attention.

"You were working with Asuka in the Third Branch, right? You're her sensei."

"Before SEELE shut us down, yes. And then we moved out to the Mediterranean to finish up before I accompanied her over here for her first official mission. To rescue Katsuragi-san."

"Fucker." Her voice was more distracted than emphatic. Kaji seemed to enjoy the responses.

_They must have some sort of history together. But I never remember Misato talking about him before._

Almost as if on cue, Kaji illuminated his ponderings. "Misato and I knew each other in college. We studied under Fuyutsuki-sensei together, actually. It's how we met." he said, winking at her while maintaining his pleasant tone since he'd first arrived. Shinji found himself strangely at ease near this man. Something about his whole presence was calming.

"So you're an Envoy as well," Shinji said.

"One of the first!" His smile was broad and painfully bright. "So tell me, has she made any passes at you yet? I understand she has a thing for younger men."

"Whaa?" Shinji could not contain the reflex as the blood rushed to his cheeks. Though he considered his relationship to Misato particularly platonic, even love perhaps, it didn't prevent the occasional teen-aged thought from entering the brain. She was a beautiful woman, after all. Misato rescued him for the time being.

"Kaji, could you get your head out of your ass or does it live there year round?"

He clucked another clipped chuckle.

"So how did you actually know Misato?" Shinji said, coming off more skeptical than he had intended.

"Well, first we were friends. And then... romantically, I suppose."

"_That_ man wouldn't know romance if it was tied to a stick and bashed into his forehead."

Kaji frowned as if something uncouth had been said for the first time in their conversation together.

"As you may have guessed, the relationship didn't end terribly well," he said with an in-serious frown.

"Oh, sorry." Shinji found the Japanese reflex impossible to escape.

"Don't be. Happiest time of my life," Misato said, still pretending to be embroiled in her magazine. Best to keep up appearances and all.

Kaji sighed, a wistful smile on his face. "She was the only girl to ever dump me. The only one I still want back."

Now it was Misato's turn to laugh but hers was a far more short and bitter "Hah." Shinji watched the back-and-forth, perplexed. He did not understand the relationship between men and women nor did he think he ever would.

He looked over towards Misato now, watching the two girls in the middle seats. Rei was embroiled in some sort of novel and Asuka was passed out next to her, a dribble of drool dangling from her open mouth as she snored loudly. He almost smiled at the moment.

Kaji grinning wildly at Misato who was doing her best to ignore him. Rei caught up in her own world as always and Asuka painfully and literally oblivious to it all. All Envoys, and all quite at odds with one another.

_A pity,_ he thought. _To have to be running away so soon. I think we could have made a good family together._

_Two Fin_

_

* * *

_

Notes: That wasn't too bad now was it? Albeit a bit slower from chapter one but I think it effectively sets up some of the more interesting story points to come. I also tried dabbling a bit more in humor for this one. I don't know why, but it seems like Envoys tend to give everyone a bit of an edgy sense of humor (except for Rei, obviously). Anyways, next chapter will have a bit more action and a bit more foreshadowing. I'm not sure how long this will wind up being but I could see it stretching into ten chapters perhaps. Who knows.

Anyways. Reviews? I really appreciated the last two! It's nice to know some one is reading this! Hopefully I'll get a few more with this chapter. I should mention I'm very open to criticism and if there's something you see that appears to be a glaring flaw, do let me know.

Japanese lesson for this chapter:

-apologizing is seen as a social lubricant in potentially awkward situations in Japan. At lot of people misinterpret Shinji for being spineless because of how often he apologizes, when in fact it's a very common technique for Japanese to use. Apologizing in no way reflects a person's guilt or responsibility over the situation, it is used rather to ease tensions. This is where I think a lot of fanfic writers screw up with their interpretations of Shinji. Shinji is not even particularly shy or wimpy by the Japanese standard, but people often assume that he is such simply because of how contrasted all of the other characters are to him in the series.

-the endings "san" and "kun" are to indicate varying levels of status, termed as honorifics. –san is typically translated as Ms. or Mr. while –kun doesn't have any direct translation really. –kun is used exclusively for young men, often by women. Misato uses this with Shinji when she's being intimate or familiar with him.

-using first names, particularly with those who are considered as above you (your boss, someone's parents), is also seen as extremely familiar. Misato gets away with it in her scene partially because she's making a joke but also because Fuyutsuki is somewhat of a father figure to her, thus acceptably close. Kaji is sort of an oddity in that he uses his last name rather like his first name. It is not supposed to imply that he prefers everyone being formal with him, just that he prefers his last name.


	3. Instinct Idiosyncrasies

**Neon Genesis Evangelion**

**A Thousand Years of Secrecy**

Disclaimer: I own neither Evangelion nor Altered Carbon (or any other book in the Takeshi Kovachs series). If either Gainax or Mr. Morgan have an issue with any of the content presented, please contact me by e-mail to remove it.

**Important A/N**: Since we are entering the US, from now on **two languages may be spoken: Japanese and English**.

Bi-lingual speech is not simple, and I'm taking the Shogun route for this since I couldn't think of a good quote system. My translations are very approximate even living in Tokyo with two years of Japanese under my belt. I will try to reserve my use of Japanese in an English setting for only when I can properly write it in Japanese. Otherwise, you can assume a character will use their native tongue in conversations unless required to do otherwise. I didn't mention this for the last chapters since we can assume the characters are only speaking Japanese to one another. This may be of particular note from here on out because not all characters are bi-lingual in Japanese and English (or tri-lingual in Asuka's case). Asuka's German will still be un-translated German because it feels more in character that way.

Quick A/N: Highschoolers swear a lot. There's nothing I can do about it. Also, this chapter takes a positive IQ to read, just like the first one. There's nothing I can do about that either.

* * *

**Three – **_Instinct / Idiosyncrasies_

"_A murderer, a martyr, a muse, and a prophet can all practice the same craft. But without these, nothing left is human."_

San Francisco was dirty, ugly, and out-dated to Shinji's aesthetic. Given that he had arrived from what was once the newest city of the cleanest country of the world his opinion was perhaps not the typical norm. But he could not shake the perpetual feeling of disgust being in this place.

He hated walking to school, seeing the homeless children playing in the park; at night they would disappear back into their hammock communities strung under the towering expressways of California. This was the sad reality of the largest economic power on Earth. He saw it everywhere: the division of the well-to-do and the struggling. You could close your eyes and still smell the piss from another forgotten vagrant, the blood from another nightly murder.

Not that the news hadn't shown him any worse. America was generally portrayed as a land full of overweight, beer-guzzling, gun owners. The stereotype did seem to fit to some extent—he couldn't imagine anyone who would walk these streets unarmed after the sun set. Nevertheless, there was a large portion of this country hidden from the eyes of the rest of the world.

It was lurking down every back alley; it was lurking in the hungry, toothless mouths of every beggar; it was lurking in the angry, cold stare of every African American and Hispanic youth that didn't have the privilege of growing up in the 'burbs. Poverty. Third-world poverty.

It was a miracle, he thought, that this country hadn't annihilated itself already. The rich and the poor were thrown together in this city like a mismatched deck of cards. For every methed out prostitute or every cooked up thug, there was a CEO giant or a Net star celebrity. For every rotting ghetto there was a towering skyscraper. For every shit-filled street, a tree-lined promenade. For every dealer's corner, an expensive restaurant or an even more expensive clothing store. Everything either reeked of money or an absolute lack there of.

_Disgusting._

After they'd settled in their apartment, Misato had given them each a Fibramic-composite handgun to keep with them at all times, as if to reinforce this unyielding sense of danger; the tense stares he would get walking home after a long day of class or the quiet murmurs of other groups of kids on the street his age that were watching, waiting for him to walk into one of those Godforsaken alleys just for once. While another hydrocell Mercedez rolled past their dejected grimace, fiberglass engine purring softly into his ear.

He could only imagine that they were saying even worse things about Rei and Asuka; the three always walked together. For their sake, he had been tremendously thankful that every Envoy got a full regiment of Judo along with two other martial arts of their choice. He had personally taken six others. But then Misato was an amazingly talented sparring partner and teacher.

And San Fransisco was supposed to be one of the "nicer" cities. America was an odd place, all in all.

After passing through the metal detectors he proceeded up to class, glad to see the five percent aluminum parts of the Fibramic Nemex had yet to fail under the school's scrutiny—not that he suspected it was particularly intense security. Students talked or in some cases shouted a mix of city-dialect, Westcoastisms, the odd inflection of burbanite slang that he simply didn't understand, all over the more agreeable tones of some of the quieter, more intellectual students.

Asuka took her seat, muttering German to herself about this morning's most recent proposition; "euro-ho" and "bitch" had been some of the most pleasant parts of the garishly-dressed Latino's request for a date. And that was using the word request in the most general of terms. But Asuka had enough bite and wit, not to mention conditioning, to more than deal with the harassment.

After Rei had almost broken a six-foot-three's wrist on Tuesday, most of the men had realized that "the silent pale chick" was not to be "fucked with." Shinji grinned to himself, recalling the way the gang's faces had recoiled when their "boy" was dealt with after mistakenly placing a hand on her petite shoulder; the precept of soft Japanese girls was shattered in an instant.

As for himself, most had largely ignored him except for the occasional snide remark to one of his fellow Envoys, asking if he was their "man." Although he did notice another group of girls every day giggling behind cupped hands and hushed voices, eyes aimed squarely at his ass. Shinji disregarded the attention and hostility, calling on his reserves of inner-calm. And it was easy for the most part.

For all the hard talk, anyone attending this private high school was for the most part image; their parents had at least enough money to send them here, and so the gangster façade was mostly amusing to Shinji by this point. None of these foul mouths knew what it was like to take a human life, he suspected, though some of the quieter ones had probably witnessed it firsthand already. Even the privileged weren't segregated from the violence regardless of whether or not they called some of the nastier places in this city home.

Perhaps it was one of these cynical moods that distracted him from the trio of new students in class that Friday. Or his contemplation of his disappearance.

The teacher strode in and stared until everyone had taken their seats or gotten to their own classes. He aimed his gaze somewhere near the back before starting.

"Mr. Suzuhara, so nice to see you and your friends again. I hope you will not be missing any further classes?"

"Yeah, we'll think about it," the boy growled.

Most of the class erupted into laughter and the teacher frowned as if he had expected better of the young man he addressed.

"Another outburst like that Mr. Suzuhara and I'm going to remove you from class."

Shinji had turned at the Asian name to find a boy with short dark hair and only moderately Eastern features. He had a discontent frown hung underneath intense black eyebrows, arms crossed over a short black jacket. He was muscular, probably into sports. His dark eyes burned ahead into the front of the class, completely disregarding the good humor of his peers. His cronies on either side did their best to imitate the boy's expression, but failed under the observation of Envoy senses. They didn't really _mean_ it like the one in the middle.

Shinji read the facial muscles in less time than it had taken the boy to reply: this young man was extremely upset about something. His posture was enough to indicate he might just be knocking someone out in the next five minutes for the hell of it. _Breaking point, breaking point, breaking point, _his mind kept screaming over and over again. He had all the classic symptoms of someone on the verge of violence.

"Sorry teach, the captain's had some personal matters to attend to recently," one of the cronies spoke up for him.

"Yeah, cap's not in a very good mood today. Won't happen again," the other piped in.

"I hope not, boys."

Though Shinji had turned away, he could now feel Touji's eyes burning into the back of his own head now. Like a sixth sense. And then the last name finally hit him, bouncing him into awareness. Touji Suzuhara, the Fourth Child.

"Ano hito ga..."Asuka whispered in hurried Japanese beside him as the lecture began.

"_Hey, that's the one, right?"_

"Hai, sou desu," he replied, keeping in his native tongue.

"_Yeah, it's him."_

" Atama kisou da naa?"

"_Looks pretty pissed off don'tcha think?"_

"Tottemo."

"_Very."_

The professor's brief glance held them from any further conversing.

Fifty minutes and much yawning later the lecture was over. As they stood up to leave for the next class, Shinji paused waiting for the two girls. Rei was asking questions to the teacher who seemed relieved to find a student as enthusiastic about the subject matter as her. Shinji stared out of the windows as another sunny day grudgingly rose through the pollution, like a gray smear smudged on the bleak blue sky.

"Lunch. I'll find you. One on one."

He recognized the whispered voice immediately, layers of hatred peeling free underneath the acidic tones. But as Shinji turned to face him he was met with the site of the trio trudging out of class. One of the cronies gave him a look over his shoulder and nothing more. Shinji felt his fist clench at his side. Not entirely of his own doing. The conditioning whispered horrible nothings somewhere underneath his thoughts, a placid calm towards the impending violence falling over him in a breath.

"Daijoubu, Shinji?" Asuka asked, smiling softly.

"_Something wrong, Shinji?"_

"Nan demo nai."

"_Nothing at all."_

_Sure, I've sparred with Misato but, I've never really _fought_ another Envoy before._

_

* * *

_

"Well, they should be meeting today. I guess we'll see how it goes." They both spoke in Japanese, tired of using English so often. It was a reprieve from dealing with the Second Branch which was almost entirely English speakers.

"I'm just praying we don't get a call from the principal or several. I hear the Fourth is still pretty upset about Tokyo-3."

"You know how boys are. They have to do something with all that testosterone."

"Yeah, unfortunately. You taught me that one."

Kaji's light laugh tinkled over the café's ambiance as his espresso sloshed threateningly close to the edge of the cup in his hand. Misato returned his expression with a humorless stare. She was having a hot cocoa. Kaji's head bobbed comically about as he watched the faux artiste clientele, a mix of delight and calm smoothly covering over the much more serious nature of the gesture: surveillance. Specifically, counter-surveillance.

They were in the back, a nice spot downtown far away enough from the windows that a distance-mic wouldn't be able to pick up the conversation. Misato was faced towards the front door. Kaji covered the rear half. There was a back exit for the alley through the kitchen, just in case. It would take top of the line equipment to be getting anything through the walls and they had chosen the spot at random, just like always, in case of the possibility of bugs. For extra precaution they both wore two tiny transmitters planted just below the base of the neck that would static out about ninety-nine percent of the conventional recording devices in existence.

Their concern was multiple. They had both been instructed by Fuyutsuki to assume that their cover for entering the country would probably already be blown to the CIA before they had arrived. Thankfully the Second Branch was more than enough of an excuse to be entering the country in secret. And the Child Envoy project was far enough out of their realm of knowledge to hide the identities of the children. But anything the US intelligence community could retrieve on their whereabouts was of far more concern, primarily because of its potential to fall into SEELE hands.

The CIA and Homeland departments liked to believe they were tight, and in the counter-terrorism areas, they were extraordinarily so; second to none even. The bio-weapon attack on the East coast was a mistake this country was unwilling to repeat, and the budget for that department alone was staggering. People in the highest level special-op and anti-terror units simply vanished. But when it came to general intelligence gathering, even in a country so very careful and stringent with its high-end military, SEELE had their footholds. Dr. Akagi's hacking of all of their mid-to-low-level personnel had insured this reality.

Unfortunately, that was one card they could not yet play.

Reading Kaji's safe signal, she continued.

"You've read his file. The kid's practically an adrenalin junky. There was a heavy amount of doubt placed onto whether or not to even start him as an operative. The Corps distrust any sort of instability. Hell, you practically got Asuka kicked out for the stunts you pulled with her."

Kaji waved his hand back and forth in a "pish-posh" gesture she'd seen him use all too frequently and smiled in the mood lighting that was just a little overdone for a midday coffee.

"I let her have some passion; any great actor has to have passion to play their part. Besides, it's not like you followed all the rules on your little one either. He's soft enough to poke a hole in."

"Flexible, not soft. And you didn't meet Rei before you started training her..."

"I heard the stories."

"Like I said, you didn't meet her. I gave Shinji something Gendou took away from her. I wasn't about turn him into a… killing-machine." Something inside her shuddered for a moment.

Kaji's eyes glazed over briefly in a way she found starkly unfamiliar. Reading the concern in her, he shook his head softly and hid it under another sip of his drink. They were not compromised.

"You did your job, and I did mine. Just like sensei asked us," he said in a manner that sounded almost resolved.

"I know, I know that, Kaji. I'm just saying. I mean. You've met the girl, she's not… typical. Not to mention, you can see the resemblance, can't you?"

"It is remarkable, isn't it?" he mused. "When she grows up I think it may be even more astonishing."

Misato frowned over her cocoa, staring out into the bustle of the lunch hour in downtown.

"I almost can't believe it Kaji, that he would to that to his own wife—"

"Watch. It." He said it with a deadly calm and it was all the more firm. Misato closed her mouth, her brow contracting as if she'd just said something out of taste about the current political climate at some fancy dinner party. Then she smiled at him, genuinely.

"Ah, I'm sorry. Sometimes I feel like we're still taking lessons in Japan, still in college together."

He sighed, eyes gleaming at her as he cradled his chin in sturdy hands. It would have appeared as feminine to Misato with any other person she knew, but there was something ridiculously sexy about the pose when he did it; something Misato felt every time she'd watched him like that. It was so terribly boyish. Maybe it was the same way he'd been sitting when she'd entered that restaurant to meet him for their first date so long ago; she couldn't remember.

"I miss those days, too, Misato."

She recoiled, feeling the heaviness of it too abruptly.

"I never said I missed them. They were just... simpler than this."

"Speaking of which."

Kaji pulled free a lash from his right eye. The kill signal. Someone was watching them.

* * *

"What do you think?" 

Cigarette smoke wafted into the ventilation duct, sucked away and out into the atmosphere. She was relieved at its disappearance; after all, she hated the smell of the non-toxics.

"Well, the results are rather impressive. They suggest a particularly interesting pattern I had suspected for some time, though never with any proper evidence."

"Which is?"

Fuyutsuki was never ambiguous in their discussions. He knew he could not be. She would never be able to properly calibrate the MAGI without all of the information.

"Tell me what you think first. I'm curious," the doctor replied coyly.

"I see an eight-percent jump in the synchronization records for Agent Ikari during the last nine minutes of operation 304. Now, please, tell me what you see, doctor."

Ritsuko smiled through an exhalation of fake tobacco. He was always so adamant about passing judgment on anything other than the tactical until she had coaxed him along. The gray eyes watched with an uncanny intensity she had once been nervous around. When she had finally grown used to his unceasing analyzing, the awkwardness disappeared, replaced with a strong sense of respect she felt was mutual. Genius tended to recognize genius.

"Heightened anxiety. Emotional distress. Probably the most dangerous mission he's been on."

"Raise the stakes and we see a leap in performance?"

"Well, something like that. But it's more than just that. The spike starts just before Shinji enters the command deck. Right before he gets to Misato."

"So she is the reason, perhaps?"

She nodded, black glasses bobbing in time.

"Yes. But... Do you know that scandal about the hunting of lions on the Serengeti? Ever since cloning became a viable anti-endangerment technology, recreational hunting clubs started mass producing prides; but you know why they had to stop?"

Fuyutsuki shook his head, a smile hidden somewhere underneath the sharp line of his lips.

"The female lions became extremely unpredictable in hunting circumstance. Particularly when their cubs seemed to be threatened. They were often able to survive far beyond the normal extent thought physically capable of an adult female. We are talking about several lethal shots with a high-powered rifle. Then the females started jumping onto the three-meter-tall shooting platforms… this was all after several lethal shots. After the first hunter fatality they started putting tranquilizer serum into the bullets to release on impact. Another fourteen hunters were killed before the clubs were shut down permanently."

He nodded. And so she continued, admiring his icy patience yet again.

"Of course, in the lawsuits that followed, the prosecutors used some suspect pseudoscience to indicate that the lions had been cloned from an abnormally strong pride on purpose. There was even some finger pointing that the operations had purposely re-engineered the DNA to make the animals live longer and fight harder; to try and make hunts more exciting, more intense. None of it was ever proven conclusively. But..."

This time Fuyutsuki spoke:

"A group of biologists came along not too much later, proposing a wild theory. After all of the genetic testing proved inconclusive, the group published their hypothesis that the result of these super-human, or rather, super-lion acts were because of a region of the lion's cortex which they believed to be encoded into what we commonly refer to as 'parental-instinct,' specifically, the drive to protect one's children. The particular section of the brain was of altered structure in every one of the cloned lions' heads, children, males, and females. They argued that it had only manifested in females because the mother instinct was so intensely powerful. They even went on to claim that this was the result of a spontaneous evolution, an adaptation to the environment the prides had been confronted with in the hunting pens. A very controversial paper, if I remember correctly."

"You always feign innocence, my dear Fuyutsuki," she chided.

"I enjoy a good story." He smiled at her, white teeth sneaking free for an instant.

"Then I shall continue. Surely you've heard of the full extension of their theory: that not only would the mother lions display this unbelievable stamina when their children were in danger, but that eventually the behavior would be passed down to the adult males, and even the children in defense of their parents at some point."

"The scientific community treated that paper like hearsay. Most of the contributors lost their jobs or tenure over it," he said, sighing.

"And Bruno was burned at the stake for proposing the rest of universe just might have other planets with other beings. We tend to have strikingly closed minds for a community of pioneers," Ritsuko lamented after another long drag.

"What are you telling me with this little anecdote, my good doctor?"

"The MAGI tell us how to update the Plugsuit coding according to their scroll-analyzing algorithms and a combination of a rock-paper-scissors like logic system, allowing each brain to approach the issue from a different set of reasoning skills entirely. While this considerably slows down the computing process, even creating the occasional disagreement, it also prevents action from being taken without a unilateral consensus between the three, making the entire system far less prone to any error. The changes that they make to the suit programming occur most frequently during combat operations in which the suits are utilized, some times spitting out up to three to four different re-writes of the S2 coding within a single second. One might liken this process to the theoretical model for spontaneous mutation."

"There of a lot of Darwinists you could alienate with a statement like that..." he admonished, not entirely serious.

"Fuck 'em. Nature is more chaos than slow progression anyways."

"Only one so eloquent can be allowed to use such language." He frowned and then it disappeared. "Are you perhaps implying that the MAGI are re-tailoring the suits to become more... responsive under the emotional duress of their occupants, not unlike how a lioness might feel protecting her cubs?"

"Elevated adrenalin levels and the fight or flight response of the brain make this a natural choice for increased synchronization. And consider this: the Plugsuits all went from exact copies of one another to developing idiosyncrasies shortly after we began having each of the children use them. The MAGI system is an adaptive problem solver, verging on sentience; and yet, though the entire system and structure may change over time, each of the three individualities contained within remains firmly unique; there is an 'unwillingness' in the system to compromise this separation beyond just the instructions of the AI programming. It seems obvious then that they would create something in their own image, does it not?"

"God created man in his own image."

Ritsuko found she had nothing more to add to the discussion. She was still ill at ease when the man entered a phase of religious reflection. Though she could hardly blame the sentiment, knowing what they both knew.

* * *

It was lunchtime before the crowd started gathering. Shinji must have looked "don't fuck with me" enough to prevent any direct conversation with the bystanders, but he could hear it in the whispers and feel it in the mood; excitement, tension, danger. Apparently Touji hadn't been as discreet as he had assumed. People pooled just far enough away from their table to watch. 

"What's going on," Asuka said, not really looking up from her lunch. "Ogling the new kids again?"

"Something else," Rei said softly, eyes never leaving his face. Asuka noticed and also turned to him.

"Shinji?"

"I have something I need to take care of."

A residual "oooh" began building up behind him. Rei's eyes locked on past his shoulder. Asuka snapped around, following her gaze and the crowd jeered.

"Shinji..." Asuka started.

"Wakaru. Shitsurei."

"_I know. Excuse me."_

He turned to find the same angry boy, slowly striding up, cronies on either side. Shinji ignored them entirely, focusing on him. Watching his gait. Judging his reach. Checking for any sign of nervousness or caution. Not that there would be. Envoys were comfortable with violence the way a dolphin was comfortable underwater. While they didn't exactly breathe the stuff, they could survive no problem.

Several other cronies of his apparently were in the process of making a ring, and now other students had begun to show up, not just those on the high end of the gossip totem pole. The guys seemed to be largely grinning as if they were going to be seeing a great show. The girls seemed more tentative in general, though not all of them. Some were cheering right along with the mob.

"Tou-ji! Tou-ji! Tou-ji!"

The boy held up his hand for silence. They complied instantly, despite a few agitated whispers.

Shinji quietly noticed that Rei and Asuka were now on either of his sides, flanking him just slightly in a mirror image of Touji and his two cronies.

"This is between me and Ikari," he said, addressing the two girls.

"Like I really fuckin' care," Asuka snapped.

One of the cronies took a step forward before being pushed back with Touji's hand.

"Ikari and I are friends," Rei said softly, coldness seeping through. She too could sense the violence in him.

"Not that I have anything against hitting girls—I'm not a sexist—I just don't see any reason to get you both involved. Besides, I'd rather not mar those pretty faces."

"As if you could, cocky prick." This got some hoots out of the crowd. Asuka grinned at the trio while her eyes grimaced. One of the cronies was practically shaking with anger. Shinji saw it easily.

_Too much ego in that one._

Touji closed his eyes, making an equally nasty grin. He re-opened them and spoke again.

"Listen you German _whore_, as much as I'd like to flatten you, this is a personal matter solely between me and him." Asuka's eye twitched malignant. More loud hooting followed, along with some similar insults from the students. He continued, ignoring her and the crowd. "I would fight you also Ms. Ayanami, but I understand you and your family lived in Tokyo-3 as well... so, I suppose you've had enough punishment already."

"Shinji lived there as well," Rei replied coolly.

"Yes, but unlike you, this little shit got a free ride out before the bomb fell... all because his daddy works in the government!"

The crowd was totally silent; the annihilation of Tokyo-3 hit a little too close to home with the devastation of the East coast not so long ago. Shinji strangely suspected this had earned him some sympathy somehow. Touji continued, oblivious now in the throes of his rage.

"Just like I suspected, the government knew all along it was going to happen! Since they couldn't evacuate everyone, they didn't tell anybody and the fat cats pulled their kids out and let everyone else... burn."

His voice cracked at the end, though he was practically screaming. Shinji knew it then instantly: Touji had lost someone in Tokyo-3, someone with whom he was very close to. This was why he hadn't been at school when Shinji first arrived. This was where this terrible source of anger seemed to flow from him, straight into Shinji. He found himself strangely pitying his aggressor now. The Second Branch had kept Touji in the dark about each of their identities for some odd reason.

"Shinji..." Asuka was looking at him now.

"It's okay. This will be over soon."

He nodded to both of them and they joined the crowd.

Touji had wiped away angry tears before they had blended into the crowd. His two cronies left his sides to help regulate the mob. Most were now thoroughly enthralled with the spectacle. This was far more intense than most of them had expected, Shinji thought. He could hear the whispers of "Holy shit," "Touji's gonna kill that guy," and "This is nuts!"

Touji stood a few steps out of striking range and lowered himself into a classic Jeet Kun Do pose. Shinji recognized it and lowered himself into one of his own self-stylized stances that he thought would match it well.

But just before they started, a girl cried out and burst through the ring of spectators before being stopped by one of the cronies. Her brown pig tails danced wildly as she shouted at the boy.

"Stop it, Touji! Just stop it! Please!" Practically crying, she was pushed back into the crowd beside Asuka.

"Afraid he's going to lose?" Asuka said aside to the girl. Her eyes were full of tears. She shook her head and the brown pigtails flew once again.

"No! You don't understand! Touji, he—he loved his little sister so much. But... she was living in Tokyo-3 before—before the bomb. I'm afraid he won't stop even once the fight is over!"

Asuka made a small "ah" sound and nodded. The other girl grabbed her though, shaking her and almost yelling now.

"Don't you get it? Touji's the captain of the martial arts team here at school. On the weekends, when he's not winning tournaments he fights instructors from local dojos; these are grown men. He's beaten a few of them so badly they've had to go to the hospital. But if he fights Shinji like this, he could... he could kill him!"

And then she was sobbing on Asuka's shoulder. The redhead looked around at the rest of the awestruck crowd, far too focused on the two stretching now to notice the girl wailing on Asuka. Slowly, carefully she patted the girl's head, finally giving up and putting her arm around her.

And then the blows started.

They were a series of quick jabs and the occasional kick. Shinji knew from experience that these were more about probing his defenses then trying to land anything particularly solid. And Shinji returned the favor, much to the bewilderment of Touji: he had not expected to be fighting someone equally well-versed in martial arts.

Obviously he had mistaken Shinji's original stance as an amateurish attempt to match the vicious looking Jeet Kun Do pose. He was wrong.

The real hits came next. Fast, elbows low and hard, knees thrown in for variation, while they twisted around each other, Touji instinctively aiming for what he assumed was a weaker left side. But Shinji stepped into the offensive using the surprise of his maneuver to deflect the initial strikes and very nearly trip Touji's over extended right leg. The crowd was already practically roaring. They'd probably never seen two martial artists of this skill face off; they probably never would again.

The boy jumped back correcting his mistake and laughing in a way that was entirely unpleasant.

"This is going to be good after all! Now I don't have to hold back!"

And with that he came charging back in, now switching his focus onto Shinji's right shoulder. Open palm strikes came twirling and twisting from all angles and the boy's speed had seemed to double in that instant. Shinji had to bounce back and away, unable to match the sudden change in pace. He let the conditioning take a stronger hold of the battle instincts. The scream of the crowd faded away to his breathing, slow and deep, chi exercises to match his next set. Touji's chest heaved in the same manner. Not tired, just focusing it, getting the rhythm. And searching for weakness.

But as the boy move to struck again, his offensive became erratic, sloppy.

_Too much emotion,_ Shinji thought. _Too much anger. Must be calm. Calm…_

Shinji knowing that he had the mental advantage now, quickly repelled the series of strikes, parrying the blows with some of his own, before drastically turning up the tempo and starting a charge of his own. Touji was able to keep up with Shinji's sudden reversal until all but the last moments, then he had him in a classic Judo throw, his pose over-extended so that it was all but inevitable. He saw the boy's face resign as he flew over his shoulder and harshly into the ground on his back.

To his credit, he did not make a sound as he landed, rather going limp, eyes staring out above and beyond Shinji, mouth contracted in a tiny frown.

"You won," he said softly. "Fucking good for you."

Shinji ignored the open mouths of all but Asuka and Rei, and instead squatted next to the boy, offering him a friendly hand up. He could not smile at him, though a part of him wanted to.

"It's so easy for you, isn't it? You get to win. You get to come here and not think about all that shit. You don't have anyone to leave behind you there. So fucking easy."

Shinji withdrew the hand and stood. The cool calm of the conditioning washed away with maddening ease, replaced by bubbling rage.

"Easy? What do you know? What do you know about easy? What makes my life so fucking great?"

He felt the unfair bitterness come screeching out with every word. Suddenly he hated this boy, hated his ignorance.

Touji shut his eyes then, blocking him out and whispering:

"You didn't have to lose anyone..."

_Working for NERV has got to be so cool! Dude, when I graduate high school, I'm going to come work for you guys, I promise! You can get me an application right?_

"His name was Kensuke Aida, you selfish fuck!" He was screaming at the boy. He did not know why but he was screaming with all the breath he had in his lungs. "Okay? He was my best friend, or the closest thing I'll ever have to one! And he's gone now. No one will remember him! No one can because his whole family is dead too! He doesn't have a grave! No one can bury him! Do you get it yet? He is gone. Really and truly gone. Forever. I am the only one who knows his name anymore. I am his grave. I am Kensuke Aida's grave!"

The eyebrows scrunched, and his face went blank. Like he was unwilling to listen, or believe. Shinji walked away disgusted almost running into Asuka as he left.

"Shinji, are you..." she started to ask him.

"Nan demo nai."

_Three Fin_

_

* * *

_

A/N: Woohaa! Intense, eh? And what about Kaji and Misato? Is the whole trip compromised? Is the jig up? What the hell did Gendou do with Rei? And why wouldn't the Second Branch tell Touji Shinji's real identity? All this (well, not quite) and more, next time! Wow, that was so cheesy (hopefully the end of this chapter wasn't though).

I'm never sure if I pull off sadness very well in my writing. I can capture melancholy pretty well, but it's that kind of deep sadness that's fueled by rage, the sort brilliantly portrayed by Asuka in the series, that I find to be hardest to do. I hope it was acceptable but, I am eagerly looking for criticism for my portrayal of this emotion as it will be a reoccurring theme. gasp

Once again I'd like to give a **_giant_** "thank you" to all of my reviewers. Your criticisms matter a lot to me (as does your encouragement) and you should know that nothing is set in stone. You have just as much power over this story as I do, because, really, what is a story without an audience? Just words.

One other minor note: we haven't seen Asuka fawning over Kaji yet as of one of you pointed out because A) she was already asleep when Kaji entered the cabin. I thought about doing that scene differently but I wanted Shinji's opinion of him the most so… B) We haven't seen them in scenes together other than that one. Thus you can expect a lil' fawning. Just remember that she's now eighteen, hence more mature and also, Kaji is her sensei for Envoy training, so their relationship is oddly different from the series in some respects.

Japanese lesson for this chapter:

-Ne is a particle used explicitly at the end of Japanese sentences to lighten the meaning or seek agreement. Its closest English equivalent is probably "right" as in "sou da ne?" or "isn't that right?" Ne, while not a particularly feminine word, is probably used more by girls simply because of its lightening effect on a sentence. Even when stating something explicitly, ne can be added onto the end to sort of seek the agreement (or imply one's agreement). Naa is probably the closest masculine equivalent to ne, but translating the actual difference in meaning is nigh impossible for someone with as little experience as myself. The only reason I mention this is because Asuka has a tendency (in my story anyways!) to speak with male usage words mostly. She doesn't do anything crazy like use "boku" when referring to herself (literally: young man) but she certainly does not speak with an effeminate manner either, purposely avoiding a more feminine tone unless she wants too say something particularly sexy (ooh!).

I actually say ne a lot more than naa when I speak Japanese because it feels more natural to many and I'm already plenty masculine as is. :P


	4. Spread Precious

**Neon Genesis Evangelion**

**A Thousand Years of Secrecy**

Disclaimer: I own neither Evangelion nor Altered Carbon (or any other book in the Takeshi Kovachs series). If either Gainax or Mr. Morgan have an issue with any of the content presented, please contact me by e-mail to remove it.

* * *

**Four – **_Spread / Precious_

"_God said 'Let there be light' and there was light. He who can do the same must surely walk amongst Gods."_

Kaji pressed the barrel of the Nemex into the man's ear, holding his head steady against the wall. He used English because it sounded nastier and he didn't know the agent's language proficiency.

"You're going to answer each of my questions and every time I don't like or believe your answers I will pull this trigger. Got it?"

He nodded as best he could with his face pressed against the brick.

"Are you bugged?"

He shook his head as Misato began to pat him down. "No one's listening, if that's what you mean..."

"Are they watching?" Kaji tilted his head upwards towards the sky above them slightly. Through the brick-lined and fire escape spangled chasm that was the back alley and into a streak of midday blue.

"Don't know."

"Who do you work for?"

The man did not say anything. He held his gaze aimed at the trash-lined sides of the street. Two men walked by the edge of the alley, paused, looked at the three of them and kept walking. Nothing out of the ordinary here. Just another day in San Francisco to them. Just another unlucky guy getting mugged by a prostitute and her gun-toting employer.

"I don't like to repeat myself..." Kaji's tone was not impatient. He sounded, in fact, as if he had more than enough time for anything at the moment. The Nemex said otherwise.

The man laughed hoarsely. "I was tailing _you_. Doing a damn fine job too. Do you really think I can answer that question?"

Kaji smiled a little behind the grizzle of his jaws though his eyes did not. Misato stood off to his side, arms crossed now that she'd finished the patting down.

"How long before they know something's wrong?"

The man's eyes twisted so that he was looking at Kaji sidelong, though the strain of his expression revealed nothing. He caved a little.

"Five minutes, maybe less. After that the RFID chip will ping unusual location. Another ten and it will ping immobile agent. Ten after that and someone will be here looking for me."

Kaji nodded at the cooperation. A car alarm blared out a symphony of upset somewhere down the street from them.

"Where is it?"

The man grinned at this. An odd expression when half your face is held immobile against graffiti.

"They don't tell me. Somewhere in the fabric of the clothes. Maybe in the sole of my shoe."

Misato spoke now. "And if we strip you someone find's a pile of agent's clothes in the alley in twenty minutes."

The man shrugged underneath Kaji's grip, or did his best despite being held still. "Hey, maybe I went skinny-dipping? Who knows."

Kaji found himself grudgingly appreciating the man's sense of humor—a man whose head he had a gun pressed against. It would be unfortunate if he had to kill him. The conditioning willed the good humor away. It told him to get nasty.

"So do they train fuck-ups at the CIA or was that just part of your resume?"

The man shifted uncomfortably, an odd gesture for how un-offended he appeared.

"Come on. You're an Envoy. What do you think?"

Misato blinked without really showing the surprise they both felt. Kaji filed that away somewhere. Whoever he was, he knew that much at least. Which meant "they" knew even more.

"I think you were practically waving a flag in that coffee shop for us to lead you into this alley and put a gun against your head," he said quietly.

"Bingo." He snapped his finger then winced. "She patted me down and I'm unarmed. Plus it's not like either of you would need a gun to kick my ass so can we please take that thing out of my ear."

Kaji withdrew the gun and kept it pointed at him casually from the waist. Somewhere in his mind the conditioning was keeping the barrel trained on the man's right hand. Another "just in case" that had been programmed in for just such occasions.

"You can call me Griff," he said, dusting himself off. "And the reason I'm here, as I'm sure you've already guessed, is to get in touch with your superior, Commander Fuyutsuki."

Misato snorted. He looked up at her, exaggerating his disappointment with a pained brow. "What—were you looking for his cell number or should we just take you to the secret underground bunker right now?" she said dryly.

"Surely you didn't think my people send agents into the field for the express purpose of getting caught unless there's something to be gained from it?" he retorted.

"There are all kinds of spying..." Kaji said softly. "Especially the friendly kind."

"Spoken like a true Envoy. But let's cut the bullshit for a moment..."

"Let's," Misato agreed.

"First I will tell you what we both already know. NERV is in a very tenuous position here in the US. They are the only military organization on American soil not under the direct control of the government and that makes the people at the top very nervous. And very nosy. You get away with it because you provide Envoy training to the cream of our crop as 'rent' and in return we let you have Alcatraz and the facility you built under the ocean floor of the bay as long as we can keep a close eye on everything you do and a couple satellites over your heads."

Misato made a little speed-it-up gesture.

"What you may or may not know is that there are forces at play in our government that are seeking to crush you outright. They aren't just nervous, they are running scared and this shit with Tokyo-3 has stirred up the hive. They want you _out_. Like now."

Kaji nodded.

"And these same people, these are the ones that my taskforce is charged with watching very, very carefully."

This got the Envoys' attention.

"Task force?" Kaji said.

"We're very... unofficial. My superiors have friends high up in the chain of command with the Second Branch. We hear the rumors no one else wants to hear. We hear about the apocalypse and all the other crazy shit that's always swirling around your organization. But what scares my bosses the most, what really makes their hair stand on end, is what we hear about the US being compromised."

"They're brighter than we thought," Misato said aside in casual Japanese.

"You know then?" Griff affirmed. "You know about the people in the CIA, the NSA, and everywhere else that seem to have some sort of agenda with someone or something in Germany."

They nodded at him.

"Then you also know this is quite possibly the largest scale infiltration of our government in history by an outside party, possibly all the way up to the executive branch and beyond. Even the Groom Lake Facility."

Kaji stared down the man somberly. Supposedly Groom Lake, more popularly known as Area 51, held the US's testing grounds and R&D for everything from military spacecraft to nanotechnology. There were rumors along the NERV grapevine that the research there contained technology centuries beyond today's—stuff that might even rival the Plugsuits or the MAGI. If SEELE had their hands in that, things were going to get a whole lot more nasty than just N2 Mines.

"So if your boss is friends with the Second Branch, why doesn't he arrange a meeting through them? Or let me put it this way. Since we have no way of knowing for whom you work, why shouldn't I kill you right now," Kaji said quietly. His eyes meant it. And Griff could tell. He knew what the word 'Envoy' meant. These were the people that could bluff their way through anything and everything because their regimen had no predictability. An Envoy had no "routine." There were no guarantees, no behaviors, no rules of engagement with an Envoy.

"Meeting through the Second Branch is now far too dangerous to attempt." Griff watched them both carefully as he spoke. "You see, we also have reason to believe that the Second Branch has been compromised by this... infection."

* * *

He stared into the empty aluminum can as the sun's fading light cast orange and black lines across his face through their slatted shutters. Their kitchen was small, the dining room adjoined to give just enough space for someone cooking and someone cleaning the dishes. All in all it was a somewhat intimate apartment, but Misato had chosen it for that. As much as she wanted to be inconspicuous, she also wanted to encourage their living together—something he suspected she had been instructed to do by Fuyutsuki. 

Asuka watched him closely from behind cupped hands on chin as she sat at the dining table. Rei was absorbed in yet another novel, sitting adjacent to Asuka. She'd been trying to coax something out of him about today ever since lunchtime and their trip to the principal's office.

Even with he and Touji relatively unhurt, it hadn't stopped the buzz of the school from reaching the principal's ears. He'd sounded unconvinced even after Touji and Shinji had both attested it was simply some friendly sparring for Shinji's acceptance into the Martial Arts team at school—all of the yelling had made him suspicious apparently, though neither of them was suspended. Yet.

Asuka tried another approach for the nth time since they'd been home. "We aren't supposed to hold that sort of stuff in, Shinji. You know that. It messes up our conditioning. And talking is a good way to start."

She sounded sympathetic and impatient at the same time. Or maybe that was just the overbearing German accent.

"Maybe with my sensei but, I don't have to talk to you about it..." he said into the can.

This got her. She looked up at him, fury briefly filling her gaze. Her cheeks flushed with anger before she turned away from him completely and stood up.

"Fine. Be an asshole about it."

She stomped over to the couch and flopped down, not bothering to turn on the TV. Instead she stared out into the afternoon sun, streaming through the sliding doors of the balcony. Her arms were crossed tight across her chest.

Shinji felt a little guilty, but not sincerely enough to apologize. Asuka would get over it. If anything, she could attribute it to his embarrassment to today's outburst, not any sort of real malice on his part.

"They did not inform the Fourth Child on purpose."

Shinji and Asuka both turned to look at her. Rei was staring up at him over the edge of her novel, red eyes studying his face. Asuka pretended to look away towards the balcony again but her posture was of someone listening intently.

Shinji put the empty can down on the counter and returned Rei's cool stare. "Why? Why would they do that, Rei?"

"There are a number of options for our assumption. One, because of our official status as refugees, the Second Branch has withheld our true identities for the purpose of further ensuring our cover into the country. This possibility can be ruled out because of an absolute lack of justification on Suzuhara's part to reveal us. Two, because of Suzuhara's sensitivity to the attack in Tokyo-3, they decided that the best course of action for his conditioning would be to conceal our involvement with the First Branch. We can rule out this possibility because it actually led to the brawl that transpired today, something that could have easily been anticipated given our cover story. Which leaves option three: they did not inform Suzuhara for the express purpose of encouraging the confrontation between himself and the Third Child today."

Shinji felt the fist clench again.

"They... wanted this to happen." The steely resolve of his training bounding into him, improvising, calculating. Rei nodded, eyes still locked on. Asuka had given up all pretense of disinterest and now studied Shinji with a measured curiosity. His face burned with concealed anger. The sort of anger Envoys weren't allowed to have, save some exceptional circumstance.

"_So if some idiot politician, some power player, tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, take it personally. Get angry. Make it personal. Do as much damage as you can."_

Shinji walked out of the kitchen and into his room, shutting the door halfway. Sounds of drawers sliding and clothes ruffling could be heard from within. Rei, seeming to be satisfied, returned to her book without giving him a second glance.

"Wait! Shinji, what are you doing?" Asuka called out from the other room, now off the couch and staring at his door ill at ease.

"Something Quell would have done, Asuka."

He emerged from his room wearing a brown bomber jacket she'd never seen on him before, complete with the fleece collar. It made him look slightly bulkier than his tight build underneath. His facial expression now revealed none of its previous fury; it had boiled away into total resolve. Asuka stared at him, watching him adjust the Nemex in its shoulder holster underneath the jacket; he rehearsed drawing it from the jacket zipped up halfway a few times, oblivious to the two of them.

"But... Shinji, you can't just... Misato's orders..." she pleaded with him.

He looked up at her and she froze under the stare. It was like ice to her. She almost recoiled at his facial expression. It was as if she was no longer staring at the face of the Shinji she'd met only a few days ago but rather some stranger masquerading in his body. Envoy senses read a stranger's disinterest painted in every muscle, every contortion; the sag of the eyebrows; the downward turns at the corner of the lips; slack muscles in the jaw and cheeks. As if this Shinji had never seen her before.

He turned away from them and began walking out the door. But he stopped at her voice and its almost trembling sound. She struggled to control her tone as she reasoned with him.

"Shinji, don't do this please. It's not worth it."

He didn't turn back around.

"You disobey orders too, Souryu-san."

She flinched at the sound of her last name.

"To save lives, Shinji. Not for revenge. Never for revenge."

He didn't move. He was going to leave; she could see it. The pause in his stride was on the verge of being shattered.

"What did Misato-sensei teach you about revenge?" she asked, at a loss for anything else to placate him with.

"'Never justify the means by its end.'"

He put on his shoes and walked out of the front door. He was gone with a click of its latch.

Asuka's face fell, and she looked to Rei with helplessness inscribed on her features. The silence held for a few moments before, grudgingly, Rei turned away from her book and spoke.

"The problem with Quell," she started, "is that she couldn't follow orders. Without orders, there is only chaos." She echoed Fuyutsuki's pattern of speech eerily. Asuka leered at her a moment, lost, before her stillness was shattered by the front door opening.

"Tadaima."

_We're home._

It was Misato's voice.

"Misato!" Asuka practically ran to the door only to be confronted by a very tired looking pair of senseis taking off their shoes. Kaji did not wear his usual grin. Misato seemed somewhat dejected as well. They both noticed her anxious face after a few moments.

"Something wrong, Asuka?" Kaji said.

"Did something happen at school today?" Misato continued.

"You don't know? About Touji and Shinji?"

"Oh yeah." Kaji scratched his head and walked past her around the corner and into the kitchen. "So how did that go?" He did not sound terribly interested.

"There was a fight," Rei said softly, not looking up from the book.

"Oh shit..." Misato grumbled. "So that's why Shinji's going for a walk."

Misato put her arm around Asuka and guided her back to the kitchen table. Asuka found herself numbly complying to the gesture. Kaji chuckled from somewhere in the kitchen, the sounds of him going through his daily ritual of preparing tea tinkling though the apartment.

"That Suzuhara's never going to hear the end of it from his sensei. Fighting Shinji in school... oh man, Fuyutsuki would have really kicked my ass if I'd done something like that under him," he lamented to the tea kettle.

"He's not going for a walk," the redhead said softly from under Misato's arm.

Misato sat down across from her, stretching out in her chair.

"What do you mean? Shinji? He passed us as we got out of the elevator. He said he was getting some fresh air."

"He's going to confront the Second Branch," Asuka mumbled under her breath, staring into the kitchen table.

Kaji's spoon clattered into the sink. The silence held for only a breath.

"What? He what?" Misato's eyes were wide.

"The Fourth Child was misinformed about our identities. This sparked a confrontation. With my help, Shinji deduced the Second Branch intended for this altercation to occur," Rei explained.

Misato turned and looked at her partner. Kaji nodded once.

"Kaji, we can't let... the Second Branch..."

"I know. Asuka." She looked up, her eyes suddenly alive again. "Find him. If you can't convince him to come back, go with him. And if there's any sort of trouble, any at all, call one of us immediately."

"But—" Misato started.

Kaji put a finger to his lips.

"Hai, sensei." Asuka stood and darted into her room. She returned in a tight pair of jeans and the thick gray sweater she'd gotten with Misato downtown yesterday. She swept her hair around gracefully, adjusting the turtleneck's collar.

Misato could only stare after the girl as Asuka bounded out of the apartment with another nod from Kaji.

"Kaji, what if Griff was..."

"For now, that only makes us a target, Misato-chan. The children know how to take care of themselves and Shinji shouldn't try anything too drastic. I'm going to call a friend of mine in the city and get us a plane on standby just in case."

"Is that really the best idea? If what he said is true..."

"We'll put them more at risk if we show up. If Griff knows they will know Griff told us. Right now our primary concern should be securing Touji. And I think Shinji may have already started that process for us."

Rei turned a page in her book in the lazy afternoon sun; an uncomfortable hush fell over the apartment, which she ignored, relishing the silence. Perhaps unlike her fellow senseis, she had total faith in the Third Child.

* * *

Shinji stared at the bike, smiling to himself. It was a cherry red monster with a disgusting amount of RPMs and a speed topping out at 267 kilometers per hour; it accelerated like fighter plane off an aircraft carrier. The fuelcells were hot off their Taiwanese presses; it looked like a collaboration between some eccentric mangaka and a German automobile engineer; the thing screamed obscene wealth. It looked _fun_. 

"Kid, you don't even want to know what kind of license you have to have for that bike."

The apparent owner was standing by his side, arms crossed, grinning with the glee of a man who had a distinct taste for mechanical things. He was a bulky man with a thick handlebar mustache and the sort of clothes that looked proper with stains on them. Shinji almost imagined a grease stain across his nose to complete the image but instead there was a dainty pair of spectacles that didn't quite fit with the husky voice.

"Pretty though, ain't it? Some nut in Japan designed it and they just started rolling 'em out of the factories. Most expensive bike I've got in this whole shop..."

Shinji reached out and rubbed the leather of the seat, glancing at the cockpit-like heads-up display.

"Projects your speedometer, revs, and odometer onto the inside of the glass. And the seat conforms to your riding posture by a combination of pressure sensors—handle bars are like that too; it can even slide back for two riders."

"Must get a lot of attention around here," Shinji said, continuing to evaluate its silky curves.

"Like you wouldn't believe. There's no way I'm going to get it off my hands until a real pro comes walking in here but it's great for business. People just stop to look at the damn thing." He laughed to himself, as if remembering one of these occasions or perhaps commenting on the current one.

"How much?"

"A hundred thousand UN Dollars."

Shinji's grave expression seemed to be all the encouragement the owner needed.

"Yeah, well that's what you get for a sport bike's performance in a cruiser's body."

"If I was going to buy this, how long would it take to fill out the paperwork?"

The man squinted at him and adjusted the spectacles over the bridge of his noise, nostrils flaring in an agitated exhalation.

"Son, I don't think you heard me before... you have to be a professional to buy this thing. You need more than just a bike license to drive it. You need the kind of license the GP boys have. Like the ones they get in order to race. You don't just stroll into the DMV for one."

Shinji looked at him, frowning.

"So it would take a long time then?"

"Well, hypothetically speaking, if you had the license and the money I suppose I could have you on your way in about twenty minutes, but..."

"He'll take it."

Shinji turned with surprise equal to the owner's at the German accented English. She stood in the entrance to the shop, arms akimbo on her sides and furiously mesmerizing in the pose she struck—one of total authority. Shinji blinked.

"I said: he'll take it."

"This your little lady?" the owner asked to him, voice growing unfriendly.

Shinji handed the man his wallet, continuing to gawk at her. The owner laughed uncomfortably.

"You— you aren't serious, kid? I mean you don't even look like you're out of high school yet..."

"Run the license, Mr." she said. "His bank card is the black one with the red leaf on it."

The owner whipped a handheld scanner from his belt and ran it over Shinji's license with practiced ease; it beeped at him; he promptly realized that not only was his potential customer licensed to ride the bike in the US, but also everywhere else in the world, along with a combination of aircraft, helicopters, boats, and trucks. He fumbled with it and ran it again. To his bewilderment, the result did not alter. He was shaken free of the shock by Asuka's continual glare at him.

"Uhh, oh. Yes. Right away, ma'am. I'll fill out the paperwork for you two right now," he said sharply, suddenly quite flustered. Before he ducked off to the counter, he whispered an aside to Shinji. "A word of advice my boy: that one's trouble."

"What... are you doing here?"

She laughed broadly and walked over to him, grabbing his arm. She pulled him outside without a word between them. Shinji complied, finding himself limply ambling along beside her.

When they were beyond the storefront she sighed happily, letting her hair tumble free in the wind of the parking lot. Her eyes burned azure as the sun drew closer to the horizon. He found himself suddenly and starkly aware of how beautiful she appeared to him in this moment, her hand closed around his and easy smile gleaming in the dying west coast sun. It was both bewildering and tantalizing. She looked so peaceful, practically giggling as the cool breeze off the water tickled the skin of their faces.

"You... you tailed me."

"I had to make sure someone was going to take care of you," she said, smiling at him as she tucked a bit of the loose hair back behind her ear.

"Oh."

She looked at him deeply, and the blue eyes turned from carefree to serious like a shift in the wind that frolicked in her hair.

"You aren't... running away, are you?"

Shinji looked at her sternly, then deeply into the pavement, contemplating.

"I know you want to, I mean... I understand why, if you do. The stuff at school today. The stuff with Tokyo-3."

He found the brief happiness she'd brought him drain away with several seconds of painful silence.

"What we did... it was wrong, Asuka. I know it was. 'Never justify the means by its end,' right? Well, I think we did that. And now I don't know what to think about this training, about SEELE, about any of this."

He hadn't expected to say it, it just came out. He was even more surprised when she nodded and squeezed his hand in her grip.

"I understand that, Shinji. But what we're doing, no matter how bad, is worlds better than what SEELE will do if we let them win. You understand that, don't you?"

Shinji shook his head. "I don't know if I can believe that anymore. This whole 'war' is so vague. Asuka, I've... I've _killed_ people, people with families, people with children. I don't know why I did. Sometimes they were trying to kill me, but, sometimes they we're just... ordinary people."

She looked at him, and something distant consumed her foreign eyes, something more than the fluttering twirl of her fiery hair. He held her gaze.

"You feel guilty?"

He shook his head.

"Misato taught me how to do away with unnecessary emotions but... I can't help feeling like they died in vain. If we couldn't even save Tokyo-3, what did they die for? Where is the purpose?"

"I don't know. Shinji, I..."

He watched the hesitation creep onto her face.

"It's okay. Say it, whatever it is."

"Shinji, I read your file. Before I got to the First Branch. I know about all the fucked up stuff you had to live through. If that has anything to do with this..."

He found himself oddly relieved.

"Ah, so you know then? About my father walking out on me. About my mother's coma. All the running away from the foster homes."

She laughed awkwardly. "You were a little marathoner, that's for sure. I'm— I'm sorry. I should have told you sooner."

"No, it's probably better this way. I don't really have to explain."

He smiled at her softly and she was mystified by the dark eyes. It was pitiful and yet beautiful; in that smile was the sort of weakness that did not belong—the sort of stuff that was not supposed to exist for Envoys. The feelings so compromising they were supposed to be removed entirely. Empathy, rearing its ugly little head. It must have been Misato's doing.

She'd only seen him lose his grip on self-control like that once: after the fight. But even that did not compare to the sadness she saw welling into his gaze as it hovered somewhere over her shoulder. But maybe it was to be expected; his childhood was almost on par with the disaster that was hers.

"The thing is, when I met Misato, she taught me that whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. She showed me how to confront my problems instead of running away from them. And when I was ready, she showed me how to really kick my problems' asses." He laughed weakly.

"So, is that what we're going to do then?" she asked, biting her lower lip, unconsciously at seeing the 'old Shinji' return in a breath. The emptiness sullied his eyes again and she found herself uncomfortable at its reappearance.

"Yeah. I'm going to give Touji's sensei a piece of my mind. I figured it's what Quell would have done."

* * *

"Ikari. You know why we've called you here." 

"Yes. Of course."

"Money and time, Ikari. The former of which we have plenty and the latter not enough. How much more will you waste?"

The man raised a gloved hand to his glasses and returned it behind his back, letting them stew for a little before answering. If they would have the gall to interrupt his experimenting he could return the favor. Even in a situation as unfavorable as this one.

"The data we collected from the NERV operation was invaluable."

Another of them spoke now. A huge, faintly distorted voice filled the chamber through a mix of translation and subsonics software. To someone not used to the boardroom, their voices might have instilled the sort of trembling fear and obedience the subsonics were supposed to create. Instead, having grown accustomed to the experience he disregarded the haunting acoustics for the magic trick that they were.

"But your progress is unacceptable! Too long have we waited. The ascension is almost within our grasp and we will not sit by while our most precious resource is squandered."

"The Dummy Plug is a necessary step up Jacob's ladder. Adam's DNA contains the secrets you desire; through my process we shall unlock them," he replied evenly, letting his conditioning abstain his impatience.

"We have no use for the abominations."

_Oh, but _I_ do, you stupid, old men._

"The Plugs are growing. The MAGI are seeing to that. In time all of the S2 cores will be fully unlocked. If you have any proposals with how to contend with the True Children, I'm more than happy to entertain them."

That brought a swift silence into the artificial ambience of tense darkness. No matter how many tricks the council played, Ikari still gripped tightest to the strings of fear and he pulled them with a cruel hand.

"No suggestions? Well then, we have a problem. But if I can complete a soulless program we have something to deal with that contingency and the problem is resolved, something I think we can all agree upon."

"We do not doubt your resolve, Ikari, only your focus. Now allay their fears instead of inciting them," Keel defused as per usual.

"Yui and Kyoko were necessary steps. But there are alternatives. The First Child's suit should be evidence enough. Given time, your precious time, I will unlock the S2 completely."

Another member spoke now, and the self-righteous tones they usually driveled on in were replaced by the quiet uncertainty of genuine fear. "Even without the MAGI to aid you?"

"It is unfortunate that Fuyutsuki invoked the aid of the UN, but the MAGI are neither essential nor is the situation irreparable. If necessary, we can always make light of the Rail Device footage. That should prove sufficient to place doubt in the UN, enough scare the lamb from its Sheppard." They were suckers for biblical metaphor.

"Enough for the wolves to make do," Keel finished, satisfied.

_Four Fin_

_

* * *

_

A/N: Wah! So late! I know. I'm really sorry guys. I've had midterms and well... Tokyo to deal with. You know how it is. Anyways, this chapter should have been done a while ago but I completely rewrote the beginning and it took me a while to find the proper footing between the three children. I'm hoping I nailed it. Not too much cheese in there, right?

Anyways, chapter five should be out before the year is up (hopefully sooner than later). Most of all, I want to give a giant thanks to you guys for reading and giving such staggeringly uplifting reviews. You really got me even more excited about this story than I have been (and that's saying something).

Sorry for the mistakes of the early version of chapter three. I tried to check up on this one quite a bit more but I have no proof reader so it's not entirely simple. Anyways, thanks once again for reading. You are the fuel for my literary fire and it burns with the passion of your enjoyment. Haha, that was a silly sentence.

I also strongly encourage re-reading the piece from start to here. This chapter introduces a lot of things that may have appeared ambiguous or transparent in the first three chapters and it's a technique I plan on sticking to. Ideally, once complete, reading the story over again should be just as exciting as the first time through. Sort of like the series in a way.

Japanese lesson for this chapter:

-Tadaima actually translates literally to "right now" but is the phrase spoken upon entering your home. I was thinking about having Shinji say "ittekimas" (literally going and coming) when he left, which is what you say leaving your house for "I shall return" but it seemed too cliché in translation.

-Using a last name is a way of introducing formality into a situation. It can be used to a polite effect in the proper situation. Between friends, it's a way of introducing "distance" into the conversation between the speaker and listener. Shinji uses it for slightly crueler effect than normal use. Because Rei typically refers to her peers by last name first, she is not seen as odd in this regard (although the distance-maker may certainly apply).

-In Japan, any sort of physical contact between men and women in public, even holding hands can be the sign of a full relationship, even marriage possibly. This plays into Shinji's relative shock and mood at the bike shop. I leave it up to you to assume whether Asuka knows this particular nuance or not. The motorcycle is totally a not-so-sneaky reference to Kaneda's bike from Akira. ;)


	5. Untold Welcome

**Neon Genesis Evangelion**

**A Thousand Years of Secrecy**

Disclaimer: I own neither Evangelion nor Altered Carbon (or any other book in the Takeshi Kovachs series). If either Gainax or Mr. Morgan have an issue with any of the content presented, please contact me by e-mail to remove it.

* * *

**Five – **_Untold / Welcome_

"_Ice and steel, turned apart by idle hands. One's shelter will crumble above the childrens' heads, and the other shall sweep them away into the dark."_

The streetlamps flitted past on the closed bridge over the choppy Pacific waters of the bay, stirring in the darkness below; night had settled fully revealing the moon's pale glow ghosting into the sparse stars above the two of them. She squeezed her arms around the his waist tighter, pressing her cheek into the back of the leather jacket and shivering as he throttled on the accelerator just a little harder into stinging November wind. The bike responded gracefully, slipping the road away beneath them at a speed that would have been illegal on any other road in the United States. But this was not any other road.

The NERV automated gate and roadblock had only given them one dumb-struck cargo truck to pass since they'd turned onto the bridge for the Second Branch. No outgoing traffic. Into the distance before them Alcatraz glittered like a jewel encrusted point of light perpetually out of reach.

Shinji did his best to shutdown the hormones swimming through him at the sensation of warmth produced by her thighs pressed around his; he tried not to consider softness of her breasts against his back or the clutch of her arms wrapped around him. Somewhere an erection was trying and failing to throb in his pants, a feeling that he was more aggravated with than enjoying. He didn't have time to enjoy it for the moment. He kept his gaze aimed on the glistening jewel of the entrance.

_Maybe we should ride to school like this..._

He chuckled somewhere else in his head and pushed the bike a little harder. The hydrogen burned swifter in response and, he reveled in the burning chill of the wind stinging his cheeks; he was thankful that it was diverted by the glass cover extending off the nose of the bike. The goggles kept it from being unbearable. The speedometer blinked triple digits at him. Asuka shivered again somewhere behind him and he felt his crotch respond lazily.

_Fucking hormones._

They hadn't spoken since the start of the start of the ride, despite the near silence of the engine at the red lights between the shop and gate. For the time being, it seemed they were both content to ruminate over their conversation in the parking lot.

The Second Branch loomed in the distance, its undying twinkle drawing nearer and brighter.

* * *

"This is S-Hop. Go secure." 

"Yes ma'am. Verifying now... Verified. Secure established. Connecting to command now."

"Sub-Commander Katsuragi, Lieutenant Ibuki here. How can I be of service?"

"Good evening, Ibuki-san." She tried to stay cheery, ignoring the tense feeling in her gut.

"It's morning over here actually, sub-commander," Maya corrected.

"Sharp as ever, Ibuki-chan," the "oaf" cut in. Misato glared death at him. Kaji shrugged and produced another grin from his unending supply.

"Oh. Hello Agent Kaji... I wasn't aware this was a conference call." The operator sounded only mildly upset.

"Can you patch us through to the commander, Maya?" Misato continued, ignoring their exchange.

"Hmm, Ritsuko and he are in a meeting right now with Admiral Turner. I will see if I can reach them."

She was left to ignore the semi-agitating stare of her partner for the moment while Ibuki put them on hold.

"This better be important." The voice sounded placid, but she knew his meaning was anything but.

"Very, sir," Kaji broke in. Misato tried the glare again.

"Sir, we have possible situation developing here. I have reason to believe the Second Branch may be..." She didn't finish. If he was in a meeting with Turner, they were probably on the flagship super-carrier of the UN's Fleet. The MAGI's encryption was nearly unbreakable but there was no guarantee of physical security; there might be bugs inside the cabin trying to pick up on his sub-vocals or the speaker implant in his ear.

"Beethoven's Ninth," Kaji whispered the code word they had decided upon before the trip for SEELE.

There was a lengthy pause on the other end.

"I understand. Unfortunately, for the time being, I am not able to make any sort of discussion on this matter. The meeting should be adjourned shortly. Contact me in thirty minutes with an update."

The line clicked dead.

Misato wiped the back of her hand across her brow. Kaji patted her back. This time the glare removed his offending hand.

"Don't sweat it," he joked.

"Baka."

* * *

"Sorry for the interruption admiral, where were we?" he said casually, making the "time-sensitive" gesture with his left wrist just obvious enough that Ritsuko would catch it. She nodded almost invisibly before returning her attention to the admiral. 

The man had a graying mustache and European features that were rudely interrupted by the strict tones of an American military upbringing. His posture was almost painfully flawless, his gray-blue eyes glimmering with the sort of hell he had no doubt lived through in the post-flood wars of the twenty-first century; one didn't exactly become the supreme admiral for the entirety of the UN fleet without some experience. He'd probably had more than his fair share of that in the third World War. Ritsuko guessed his impossibly well-pressed uniform didn't have enough space on its breast to contain all the medals he'd earned.

It was entirely possible.

And judging by Fuyutsuki's evaluation of the man before this meeting, his tactical brain for naval warfare was also nothing short of breath-taking. That didn't stop him from being a total hard ass; he had given up one of _his_ ships as a temporary headquarters for NERV, a fact he seemed perpetually agitated about.

"Your doctor and I were just discussing the Japanese government's involvement with this Tokyo-3 business." He said "business" with a twitch in his voice that betrayed only mild disappointment in the N2 massacre; fighting through World War III would do that to you, Ritsuko reasoned. "However, if you two are short on time don't let me keep you..."

_Damn perceptive too,_ she thought, trying to contain any surprise.

Fuyutsuki grinned the sort of grin he only ever gave to his enemies and his rivals.

"It is _always_ a pleasure, admiral. Unfortunately your unyielding observation has proved entirely too correct. It appears that a situation is developing which requires our immediate attention," the commander replied sharply. The way they spoke English to one another betrayed that they belonged to the same generation. It was infuriatingly eloquent, rarely the way military men chose to be in these times.

"Thank you for giving us this opportunity," Ritsuko clunked out with her best accent, flushing deeply even as the words came out. A smile flitted somewhere beneath the admiral's visage as she spoke, perhaps impressed she would even try to struggle through his native tongue again after their somewhat stilted conversation while the commander conversed with whoever could be important enough to interrupt him on his private line—Misato most likely.

"Of course, Dr. Akagi. I hope we will get to see more of you both in the future, perhaps at a more convenient juncture," he said, shifting his gaze back to Fuyutsuki.

The commander nodded stiffly at the admiral.

"Excuse us," Fuytsuki said and with a gesture of the other man's hand they turned to leave. The only entrance to the chamber slid open before Turner interrupted their departure.

"One more thing, commander."

Fuyutsuki and she both turned, something tight in her superior's smile. She would have thought it almost looked strained had she not known him better.

"The Security Council is primarily concerned with the detonation that annihilated the city and its populace but, once this matter is resolved they will also be looking into the second attack that wiped out half of the JSSDF in the aftermath. There are rumors flying that it was not another N2 device but rather some other, more exotic weapon. Any cooperation from your organization would be greatly appreciated."

Something twinkled in the war-heavy, blue eyes that stared them down.

"Of course. Our personnel have been looking into it extensively. When we have found the culprit we shall identify them for you," her commander replied quietly.

"I will inform my superiors of your continued support," he said flatly. With a nod from Fuytsuki, they left the carrier's bridge.

They walked through the polished halls of the super-cruiser with their armed escort in total silence. Judging by his set jaw, Fuyutsuki was mulling over some part of his private conversation or the meeting itself. Somewhere on the deck of the carrier, their VTOL's engines were whirring to life in preparation for shuttling them back to the headquarters. Ritsuko ventured a glance at him in between strides.

He shook his head barely.

They would not be telling Misato this. Not yet.

* * *

"You have to be fucking kidding me." 

"Well, we did get through the front gate at least. You know, we probably wouldn't have been locked down in this thing if you hadn't back-handed the receptionist," he chuckled.

"Bah. We had First Branch IDs and they were treating us like spies! Plus don't pretend like you didn't see him staring at my breasts. That _hentai_."

Shinji put on his best pretend-innocent face, lips pursed and eyes aimed at the overhead lights. She burst into laughter.

"Dumbass." She jabbed him in the arm.

He rubbed at it, feigning injury, then sat down on the floor of the elevator.

"So what now?" he said, crossing his legs and looking up at her.

Her face twisted into a mischievous grin. She whipped out a PDA from her back pocket.

"Oh please," he balked.

She stopped tapping the stylus and stared at him. He accepted the contest.

"What?" she said sharply, brow furrowing. He shook his head at her.

"You're good Asuka, just not that good. This is the main shaft down to Second Branch."

"Ye of little faith..."

She turned away, and continued tapping. Then pried open the emergency call box under the only two floor buttons, both of which were unmarked. She wrenched the phone off its holder in one swift motion and tossed it into the far wall of the elevator with a crash of plastic and the crunch of breaking mechanics.

Shinji made a "pssh" noise and rolled his eyes again.

"Heh, I'm sorry if I offended you, miss super-hacker, but they aren't exactly going to have the softest security for the only way into Second Branch that's not under water. I mean we're already in the damn elevator car. You really think they'd be dumb enough to actually—" With a jolt the car was descending again.

She looked back at him, arms crossed decisively, grin just as mischievous and confident as before. He blinked at her. Blinked again. Tried to find his tongue.

"How—how the hell did you—"

"Hack the elevator? My mom taught me some neat tricks before she flipped shit," she said, sitting down next to him. She rested her head sideways on her knees, letting the red bangs temporarily conceal her face and the darkness that had gently swept into it.

"But you must have been like—"

"Seven?" Her head jerked back up, maniacal grin returning. "Yeah. So what? She'd already crashed the Nikkei before she was my even my age. You should have seen it when she got the all the commercial flights over Europe to spell out her name for a full minute. But I mean, come on Shinji. You already knew she helped write the MAGI coding for Christ's sake."

"Is that how you—"

"Knew how to hack the Rail Device? Yeah."

The smile grew even wider, watching him take all of this in for the moment. Somewhere in his head, her threat level had been bumped up a notch. A compliment in the most basic Envoy sense.

"Could you stop finishing—"

"Your sentences? Sure thing."

They laughed uproariously for a few seconds together, chests heaving wildly and filling the tiny confines of the elevator with their elation. Somewhere beyond the four walls of their car, the Pacific Ocean threatened to spill in at any moment as they sank further and further beneath its surface.

"What happens when we get out at the bottom?" Asuka started once they'd finally let the last of the giggles go.

"Hmm. That depends," Shinji pondered. "If our clearance has already been forwarded to command, they might be able to get the message back down the line to security in time for them not shoot the hell out of us when these doors open again. However, seeing as how you just snapped their security in two and how unlikely it is that command has even verified it's us in this car yet, I'm sure they have a whole set of security routines if anyone actually managed to do something this stupid or reckless. Truthfully I'll be kind of disappointed if we aren't greeted with guns drawn."

"'They will make you walk in circles for so long you'll forget what you were asking permission for,'" she quoted for him.

"Quell still on your mind?"

"When is she not? Plus, you said we were doing this in her spirit. I figured she'd appreciate the 'stupid and reckless' part of this."

He laughed softly.

"Yeah, probably. Say." He was looking at the floor buttons again. The little red timer above it was not changing. "Why isn't the countdown clock working anymore?"

She looked aside, brow quirking slightly. "Uh, you know, they killed it when they stopped the car."

He snorted at her.

"What? It was a rush job!"

He laughed somewhere in the back of his throat.

"Okay, so I couldn't preserve all the functions of the car to get us moving... big deal! Who got us going in the first place? Me!"

The car stopped again fully. Shinji laughed even harder at this. She did not.

"What now, super-hacker?" he jeered.

"I only made sure it would get us to the bottom of the shaft and stay there. We're at the base now for sure."

The doors were not opening. Silence consumed them for a few breaths.

"Oh," he finally replied. "Shit."

He stood. She did as well.

"What do we do now?" she said, watching him from the corner of her eye as something nervous trembled under her voice.

"Oh, they'll open the doors. Eventually," he said, removing the wallet from his pocket and carefully placing his Nemex onto the floor. As soon as the gun was free of his grip the doors slid open silently. There were guns drawn, in fact. Many guns.

_Definitely didn't reach command in time..._

* * *

"They what?" 

Misato sounded only slightly hysterical. Probably for the condolences of whoever was on the other end.

"I'm very sorry, sir. They should know better than to act like that."

Kaji rolled his eyes beside her. The apology definitely wouldn't have sounded authentic to Envoy ears even if the disappointment in her voice was real.

"Of course. Well, we didn't exactly plan on them visiting either. Not this soon anyways."

Kaji, hummed something to himself between sips of tea. Misato's cup was cooling fast and untouched.

"Yes but I assume you know what the Fourth Child did today as well. Shinji was more than a little eager to apologize for the 'misunderstanding.'" Her tone got vaguely ugly at the end and Kaji nodded in approval, eyes firmly embedded into his tea cup.

"You and I both know it wasn't an accident, so let's not pretend like it was and waste each other's time." Kaji shook his head at the unseen voice on the other end of the phone, a smile hovering in the line of his jaw; the diplomatic route had never worked well with Misato and probably never would.

"I'm not suggesting anything, I will leave that entirely up to Shinji's judgment. If it was the sensei's fault, we will make arrangements as need be."

Her tea was hardly steaming any more. Kaji flicked his vision to his watch. Almost thirty minutes. Fuyutsuki would want them right on time. As usual.

"Commander, I wouldn't suggest trying to pull rank on me. The First Branch has supreme authority in these situations and it is in our mutual self-interest to acknowledge that."

So she could be diplomatic when she wanted to. In a bossy sort of way.

"I'm not going to waste his time on such trivial matters. If Shinji said the order was given, it was given."

Uh oh.

"You want to _hear_ the order yourself? Fine. I'll get you his fucking signature on a written copy while I'm at it. In triplicate. It's not my neck on the line." She slammed the phone down. "Asshole."

"That sounded like it went well," Kaji spoke, amusement seeping into his baritone. His gaze danced over the skyline in their windows.

"Oh shut up. Stubborn bastard just doesn't want to lose his job over this."

"Fuyutsuki won't fire him over what happened today, you know that."

"Well he doesn't. Yet. It probably was the sensei. It _would_ explain Touji's ego problems, wouldn't it?"

"Maybe he's jealous of you. Let's play who's the best Envoy," Kaji intoned with a disdainful grumble.

"I've never even met the guy. Oh. And. Asuka is a walking tornado."

He met her annoyed stare, with the languid sort of "who dun it" expression crafted just well enough to really set her off. She took the bait.

"She broke the receptionist's jaw! For crying out loud Kaji. Did you teach her anything about respect? Decorum? Anything?"

He giggled into his cup, mostly at the tone she'd taken with him.

"And one of the security team member's big toe is broken. Not to mention part of the main elevator is completely out of order at the moment."

"She did all this?" He asked innocently.

"What do you think?"

His grin returned.

"Smartass."

"She's a passionate girl, what can you say?"

"Just because you don't know anything about passion..." she muttered.

He tapped on his wrist watch, ignoring the jab.

"Right. Right."

She picked up the phone again and dialed.

"This is S-Hop, go secure."

* * *

"Don't move or speak." The two of them complied, freezing in unison. 

A cluster of twin black lenses stared at them—gasmasks, no doubt chock-full of completely unnecessary imaging software: infrared, heat, lidar. Redundant for this operation but part of the standard package. Somewhere behind those twin black reflections, superimposed onto the plexiglass for each operative, crosshairs hovered over each of them, marking the spot where the barrel of each pitch black gun was aiming. Only the best for NERV.

Shinji recognized the tiny sleek forms in their grip as the latest Fabrique Nationale submachineguns, almost toy-like in the hands of these gene-pumped grunts; their body-type was identical in an unsettling way, genetically and chemically altered to match whatever model NERV had decided for the optimum security operative.

Shinji almost felt bad for them in a way. Their bodies were more the property of NERV now than anything of their own. Then again, their spouses never had to worry about children with Cystic Fibrosis, asthma, or any of the other genetic faults the Chinese genelabs had mapped out of the human genome now. Dental wasn't the only perk of being in security.

The weapons stayed trained on their chests, as he watched the identical shapes under identical uniforms hold deathly still; there was no visible rank, name, or insignia—all hastily covered over with what looked like electrical tape. Covered in full Kevlar and all the trimmings, he could hardly tell the males apart from the females save the subtle suggestion of breasts under armor plating and the not-quite-identical stances. Their SMGs were probably full of animal-stopper or paralysis tranqs but neither he nor she were moving. They were dealing with pros no doubt, knowing NERV as he did, but the two of them weren't going to try something stupid. Not _that_ stupid, at least.

The in-and-out of their masks' rebreathers filled the sterile silence of the loading bay for the elevator. Shinji quickly scanned stacked gray boxes scheduled for the surface and other equipment pushed against walls, finding more hastily placed tape covering whatever sort of contents list or brand name had been marked on each of them.

Give the minute's time they'd had to prepare, the operation was looking airtight thus far. Shinji mentally nodded in approval to whichever of the shapes happened to be the commander.

A single heavy security member edged forwards on a belly crawl, keeping his sidearm aimed at Shinji as his equipment scratched across the white linoleum tiled floor. Shinji would have thought it an odd tactical betrayal of himself but it gave his twenty or so comrades a clear line of sight on them, even if the two of them tried something drastic. The figure grabbed Shinji's pistol with his free hand and slid back away from the car at the same pace. Then it was just the sound of his and her breathing, the rebreathers, and the hum of the fluorescent lights filling the silence.

"The female steps out of the car. _Slowly._ The male stays frozen." The voice was unreal and tinny, scratching weirdly through the space between them. Some sort of speaker system was projecting the commands from one of the masks. It made the voice sound oddly more authoritative in an inhuman sort of way. There was voice masking software eliminating any distinctive features or personality for whichever one of them had said it—he had no way of knowing as they all remained motionless and fixated on he and she.

Asuka nodded and walked out very carefully. When she was all the way out of the car two of them rushed her and mashed her firmly up against the closest wall. Hard.

"Muther_fucker_," she muttered behind their grip as her temple smacked against the side of the wall.

Shinji found himself taking an unusual amount of will power not to clench his fist by his side at that moment, reminding himself that this was NERV they were dealing with, not some bozos.

_Relax..._

"Now the male."

Shinji mirrored her pace and two others rushed him as he stepped over the precipice the outer set of doors made. He found himself pressed up against the wall on his side of the elevator. The doors slid shut silently beside him.

"Check the wallet," he croaked beneath their unflinching grip.

"Shut up or we'll gag you," one of them buzzed from behind him as they frisked him.

The guns were still trained on him.

"The ID," he croaked again.

Someone elbowed him in the side. It stung.

"Shut. Up."

Shinji heard what sounded like a pressurized helmet coming off. Then an un-modulated voice too real and human to be from any of the masks. It sounded aggravated.

"Fuck! Stand down. Stand down."

The hands frisking him paused, unsure.

"That is a direct order! Stand down!"

They released him and her both at the same time, recoiling away though still cautious. Shinji straightened out the collar of his jacket and dusted himself off a bit as the guns pointed at him reluctantly turned towards the floor. He turned to her and nodded. She ran her hands through her hair, rubbing gently at the temple and returning his nod. A few of the soldiers were now also taking off their masks, betraying the same confused expression of what he assumed was their captain.

The man sighed, eyes closed and massaging his forehead with a gloved hand before addressing them.

"My apologies, sir. Command didn't..."

Shinji shook his head.

"Not at all, captain... Uh, captain whom, might I ask?"

The man looked as if he had suddenly just remembered the entirety of his decorum training in a single instance. A hand shot to his brow in a sharp salute, quickly mirrored somewhat unevenly by all of his squad behind him.

"Captain Hollens, sir!" he belted out.

Shinji returned the salute but they continued to hold the hands firm. Asuka, after a pause, reluctantly saluted them as well and the rest of the hands in the room dropped from their brows. She was still somewhat miffed about her head.

Shinji noticed no one seemed to be returning to the forklifts or any of the other equipment in the room. They wouldn't be for some time. Child Envoys were a secret heavily guarded, even within NERV itself. Anyone who'd seen them would probably be told that they were the temperamental children of some higher-up from another branch. The security team, other than Hollens probably had been fed this line already as well. Hollens, however, hadn't been able to resist his urge to salute. _No point in playing that game any further then._

"Captain Hollens, yes, you'll have to forgive our unannounced arrival. Ms. Souryu and I thought we might give you a little security test to inaugurate our first visit to the facility."

"Of course, sir." The man grimaced a smile at him, clearly embarrassed by the whole situation. He was in his late twenties with a strong jaw and a pair of brown eyes to match ruffled hair. _Could be Misato's age._ Shinji ignored the whispers as to just "what the fuck is going on" or "who the fuck we're saluting."

"I hope everything was satisfactory, sir?" he added, trying to cut out their chatter as best he could. The icy tone stopped the whispers quickly. The soldiers behind him must have finally understood that they were really addressing a superior officer—even if it happened to be a superior officer a good decade younger than their own captain.

That the two of them were Envoys—well, he doubted if even Hollens knew that much. Maybe he'd already pegged them as intelligence prodigies of some sort, pruned from a young age or some other convenient nonsense. Whatever command happened to be selling.

"Very well done, though the belly crawl was a bit out of the ordinary, don't you think?" Shinji said, trying to lighten the mood which was nearly as tense without the guns drawn.

"Yes, sir. It was, sir," he said firmly, looking out past Shinji's shoulder now as if he was being hammered by his drill sergeant in boot camp all over again. Shinji smiled, taking pity on him. He'd probably never been in situation quite like this before. Certainly not with an officer Shinji's age.

"Unorthodox doesn't necessarily mean bad, captain."

"Yes, sir! Thank you, sir!" The reply was almost automatic though authentic.

Shinji noticed everyone was held firmly facing front.

"Ah, at ease." The rest of them slowly started taking off helmets and armor again. "Sorry, I'm not. Really used to being an officer," Shinji muttered mostly to himself. Asuka chuckled somewhere to his right.

The captain had no response for this. He was improvising if anything, by this point. And what the hell did one do with a pair of superiors half one's age, having just nearly broken in to the Second Branch?

"Sir?"

"Yes, captain?"

"Command wants to know why you've chosen to grace us with your presence this evening, if I may ask, sir," Hollens said hesitantly.

"We've come to see the Special Ops facilities," Asuka said coolly before he could reply, still slightly seething from her run in with their greeting party. Shinji was briefly relieved she had the good sense not to let their real reason slip free, not entirely anyway. Not that she would. He had to keep reminding himself that she was an Envoy too.

Hollens swallowed.

"Of course, ma'am... Command would like to have a word with you first." He said it with the reluctant calm that he was speaking about the only group he knew for certain went above their heads. He was almost correct. Almost.

"They can meet us there," Shinji said quickly. He was not getting sidetracked by any diplomatic or bureaucratic bullshit this time. The sensei was getting a piece of his mind, one way or the other.

"Sir, I don't think—" Hollens started.

"Captain, we are here on a direct order from the First Branch, to enter those facilities ASAP. I don't think I need to tell you just who we are on behalf of for you to understand the urgency of this." He lied softly and flawlessly as always. A sliver of pity inched into his voice for the bewildered security squad, caught in this power struggle. Shinji watched the name "Fuyutsuki" pass through the captain's head before his tight, stressed smile returned, even more compressed this time.

"Command has not confirmed that order, sir," he said with infinite deference.

Shinji realized Hollens was speaking to Command directly and right now, probably through the same sub-vocals he'd used time and again. It quickly explained the over-strained smile of his. _Poor bastard's caught between a rock and a hard place._ The man's throat was covered over by the Kevlar collar otherwise he would have seen the tell-tale motions of his Adam's apple already—it had to be huge given the genetic overhaul of these brutes.

"Command also thought we were terrorists until about a minute ago. We don't have time for this," he said, overplaying his annoyance.

Asuka joined his long strides past the captain without hesitating.

The crowd of men and women parted like the wake of a boat before them, completely and thoroughly lost by this point.

"Wait!"

Shinji did not.

Hollens jogged up along side them and matched their pace.

"Command is getting in touch with your branch right now. They'll meet you at Ops. I'll show you the way."

It wasn't as if they didn't know how to get there. That was just the best he could do for the order he'd been given: to keep an eye on them. And that was probably Asuka's fault more than his, something Shinji found oddly amusing. He couldn't quite put his finger on why.

Shinji nodded, and Hollens' contracted smile relaxed a fraction.

The moment of peace was shattered as both Shinji and Hollens turned at a shout of pain from beside them to find Asuka standing over one of the biggest grunts of the pack. He was bent over and clutching one combat boot, teeth clenched in a mix of pain and fury. She ignored Shinji's accusing stare and Hollens trying his hardest not to gawk.

"The _chikan_ should know the difference between patting down and feeling up, _ne_?" she said, mixing in the Japanese absentmindedly. _How Quell of her. _Shinji vaguely wondered if she had picked the right one; they all looked like the same damn person with the masks on. She must have kept an eye on him from her frisking until this point. She could be stubborn if she wanted to be.

"I'm married, damnit. She could be my daughter for crying out loud," the grunt bemoaned to his captain, massaging the toe of the boot.

Shinji chuckled lightly, trying to smooth the ruffled feathers.

"Sorry, she's a bit temperamental," he said under his breath. "Oh and sorry about the receptionist's jaw. And the elevator."

Captain Hollens, once again found himself at a loss for words.

_Five Fin_

* * *

A/N: Well, I broke my promise. Sorry guys. I just needed the Christmas break too much. But now I'm back in Tokyo and back on track. I just started reading Woken Furies and it's awesome! If you guys were curious as to where I retooled the Envoy concept from, or some of the other little touches in this story, I strongly suggest the Takeshi Kovachs series of books. I like to delude myself into believe Morgan and I share a similar style but that's really all it ever is—a delusion. 

Anyways. Things should be coming out more on time from here on out. I've planned out the entire story now and God only knows how many chapters it will be. I think my earlier estimate might have been a little conservative.

I was a little concerned with how to end this chapter properly. If I had tried to get into the meeting Touji's sensei I think it would have ran a little long and a little more dark. I figure I'd try and lighten the mood a bit again after last chapter.

Once again, I must offer and huge thank you to all of my readers. You guys are the best (as you have no doubt guessed by my new summary). Here's hoping I can reach out and touch even more of you as time goes on. Thanks for your enduring patience as well. Ciao!

Japanese lesson for this chapter:

-Chikan and Hentai actually translate as two different words but they have virtually the same meaning: pervert. That should be no surprise coming out of Asuka's mouth. Hentai literally means perverted, so one can do hentai things, or even look hentai. Chikan is more firmly in the noun role and is the specific name for the kind of pervert who feels up young girls on the subway or trains. I think that's where the "chi" comes from, as in "chikatetsu" (subway).

-The "ka" particle is literally "or," but it also serves a dual purpose as do most particles. It is the question particle. If anyone says something in Japanese to you with "ka" on the end, they are asking you a question.

-Mangaka was used in the last chapter. That's an author of Japanese comics (manga).


	6. Forgetting Letting

**Neon Genesis Evangelion **

**A Thousand Years of Secrecy **

Disclaimer: I own neither Evangelion nor Altered Carbon (or any other book in the Takeshi Kovachs series). If either Gainax or Mr. Morgan have an issue with any of the content presented, please contact me by e-mail to remove it.

**Quick A/N:** Revised as of 5:00PM Tokyo time! A bit longer and much more descriptive I think. I actually like this chapter now. Sorry if some words are stuck together, the editor was doing weird things with my character spacing.

* * *

**Six –**_Forgetting / Letting _

_"They see this plane for what it is and have no sense of self thus cannot be frightened. But threaten someone they love and they'll reach all the way up to Heaven." _

Special Ops was deeper into the structure and beyond more security junctions than Hollens had probably ever seen before. With each one the locks on the doors became increasingly sophisticated, the size of the man turrets increasingly imposing. Deadly to more deadly to ridiculously deadly; a subtle suggestion that if you really had wound up getting this far into the facility you better not be fucking around. With each juncture, Shinji and Asuka passed with swift salutes after running their IDs while Hollens had to wait for minutes at a time for command to call down and verify that he was in fact allowed to be there—this time anyways.

And with each checkpoint, Hollens' face got a little more grim as it dawned on him that he was entering somewhere he expressly should not be, seeing things he should not be allowed to see. His youthful good looks of a man in his career's prime gave way to a growing horror that he'd really chosen the wrong day to come to work. Shinji wondered in passing what they might do with him if he wound up seeing the Plugsuits or some other heavily guarded equipment—even most of the weapons stationed thus far had been strictly proprietary from here on in, targeting systems that made his security squads sub-machine guns look like kids toy guns by comparison; it wasn't very fair, dragging him along like this. Maybe he'd get a promotion out of it but, there was no guarantee his new position or clearance would be an enjoyable position. One didn't just march into NERV's biggest secret without some sort of backlash.

As if picking up on Shinji's ponderings, Hollens muttered to him at one point:

"I'm really not supposed to be here, am I?"

Shinji frowned a little. "Probably not, no."

"And you kids aren't really who they say you are, are you?"

Either he'd guessed already or noticed their IDs with Fuyutsuki's level of clearance on them.

"Do you really want us to answer that?" Asuka said, smiling at him in the way one might smile at a three-legged dog or a toddler who thought he was the fastest thing on Earth until he tripped on the curb and started crying. Shinji found himself making a similar expression.

"Probably not, no," he answered her, gaze returning to the floor as if that might help conceal the secrets being practically shoved in his face by this point. His grimace edged a little darker. _Definitely between a rock and a hard place._

Shinji felt like cheering him up a little. Maybe it was their run-in at the elevator shaft or his unfortunate predicament. "On the bright side, maybe they will promote you?"

Hollens shifted his gaze towards him but said nothing. In that look, Shinji could see they both knew that could be a curse dressed up in the promise of a blessing and pay raise. If the branch didn't trust him completely, he wouldn't be seeing his family outside of this building ever again. He wouldn't be going into the city without an armed "escort" at the very least.

"You could put your kids through college on this if you play your cards right," Asuka suggested. He nodded glumly, not looking entirely pleased for a man considering the prospect of a financially secure family. He was trying to figure out if that would also mean seeing them on weekends only, probably. Shinji smirked despite his empathy for the man.

_Yeah, in other words: see no evil, hear no evil. Be a good soldier. This didn't happen. Etcetera, etcetera. _

She patted him on the arm. "Fogedabowdit," she mimicked the film made and acclaimed before the three of them had been born. He smiled weakly at the all too good advice.

* * *

"What is your source?" 

"Some spook, probably. Called himself 'Griff.'"

"That's all you have?" He didn't sound disappointed so much as shocked at the flimsiness of it. _This_ was what he'd been dragged out of the meeting with Turner for? Surely they had something better to go on. Misato winced, thankful now that the video link wasn't up. Kaji remained motionless and mute, leaving her for the time being to take responsibility.

"That's it."

There was a pause at the other end of the line. To keep the encryption's signature relatively tiny, there was no image to indicate Fuyutsuki's pondering. Kaji and Misato held still in the darkness of her bedroom. She found herself wishing they could have installed the secure phone elsewhere with Kaji sitting far too close for comfort now. But in an apartment this size, there weren't any other options to keep Envoy children out of earshot.

"You realize we can't trust this information."

"Of course sir, but he seemed to know enough to indicate there might be some possibility of truth."

She could almost imagine Fuyutsuki thoughtfully stroking his chin on the other end, eyes cast out at the Pacific as he ticked over the possibilities. He didn't need to know the details to know it was sincere. If Misato and Kaji believed it, the man had been truthful enough for them to detect. Truthful enough for the possibility of the Second Branch's compromise to be a reality rather than fiction.

"Well, if it's true it would make the situation with the Second and Third somewhat advantageous," he replied finally, easily snaking into the next angle of advantage for this set-back.

"We concur, sir. Taking the Fourth Child out of the Second Branch seems like a proper precaution at this stage. Even if this turns out to be false."

"I trust your judgment. Something must be happening in the Second Branch that is being concealed from us. However, he doesn't have any family, Misato-san. Are you suggesting you will take him in as well?"

She glanced around her room, gauging the space as she did. But what other choice did they have. If the U.S. Branch could no longer be trusted they were essentially isolated. Having Touji be anywhere else besides here was a risk not worth taking.

"It would be a tight fit, sir. But it's possible. It would give him a chance for some decent instruction as well." _A chance to put that ego problem in check._

"Tatsuki was always a somewhat poor student. Too much ambition, I suppose. Then again, maybe I was a poor teacher back then. But we couldn't have the Americans getting any sort of real sense of the Envoys, could we?"

"Agreed, sir."

What little she had gleaned about the Special Ops instructor was that he had been hamstrung by Fuyutsuki, prematurely discharged from the programming and awarded the "sensei" title out of convenience. Tatsuki-sensei knew enough to convince himself he was worth the title and enough to convince the Americans they were getting their money's worth out of the Second Branch. But the true mental and physical capacities of an Envoy had been withheld from the Korean man after Fuyutsuki's further consideration. That Touji had progressed so far under him, even possibly beyond him, was further indication of his as a good choice for the program after all.

"It was your father's decision, kicking him out, you know? He had a better knack for spotting the potentials when we were starting out. And the bad ones too. He really fussed over Gendou but..." Fuyutsuki trailed off into further pondering of his pre-flood days.

Misato found herself swallowing uncomfortably. She tried to believe she didn't want Kaji's arm as it glided around her shoulder that moment. But it was the only anchor to the present. To not falling back into that place again.

_"Take it, Misato-chan. I love you. Forgive me." _

Unconsciously her hand reaching back up to the cross, hidden beneath the high-cut blouse. The sensation of it in her fingers. Real. That was not here. That was not now. _Let it go._ _Focus. The job at hand._

She did and Fuyutsuki read the lingering silence on her end as the signal of her turmoil over his comment. _Bad memories._

"My apologies, Misato-san. I should not have mentioned—"

"No, I'm okay."

A moment of just the motion and humming from the twirling ceiling fan above the two of them in her room. Fuyutuski regrouping, re-analyzing the situation.

"Very well. Shinji will have his order when he asks for it. But I want you to have a word with him when he gets home, sensei to student. He needs to start acting a little more like an Envoy and a little less like a teenager. Am I making myself clear?"

"Always, sir."

"Good. We'll speak again shortly."

The line shut off and the encryption died after a few moments as well. Gently, she removed Kaji's hand. He smiled at her openly, un-offended as he always was. _He could be so impossibly, wonderfully polite when he wanted to. _She ignored the confusing thoughts and switched gears.

"It irks me that Shinji is getting the bad rep for this."

He rebounded like a champion. As if the awkward moment had never existed.

"You would prefer Asuka to be the one? Shinji chose this. Besides, don't pretend like you didn't see it in Asuka's face when we got home today. She tried to make him stay here. Probably because of you, if anything."

"I know, it's just... Fuyutsuki is always so hard on him. And now that he's tried to resign. It makes me worry sometimes. God, I guess I really am turning into his mother!"

"That's a good thing, Misato-chan. He needs one. Especially with a father like Gendou to forget."

"Somehow I had hoped that would end up making the commander go a little easier on him."

A glint of something not entirely moral entered Kaji's eye. Like watching the cat creep up behind the mouse in one of those pre-flood cartoons.

"So, where _are_ we going to put this guy? Their room won't sleep four people. And they might be okay with Shinji on a futon next to them, but somehow I doubt Touji will get along quite as well. With Asuka at least."

"Agreed. I don't want a showdown of the egos in an apartment this size. We could move him and Shinji into your room?"

The grin returned, unimpeded now.

"Ah, great idea! Then I'll move in here!"

She giggled and shoved him playfully.

"You mean the couch. Idiot."

"It was worth a shot."

Soft laughter. Just like old times. Though she strangely dreaded and loved the nostalgia in the same moment.

* * *

Maya watched the data scroll across her screen for what seemed like the billionth time that day, and brooded at her laptop which refused any answer to its mystery. Dr. Akagi had been very specific about what she wanted to have looked at but no matter how long Maya stared at the numbers, she could not make sense of it. 

Could the MAGI have created a coding error in the S2 Module? Was it some fault on their part that they'd yet to see materialize? Or perhaps some other ghost wandering in the bewildering language of the Plugsuits? Even she, an experienced programmer, had difficulty deciphering the suits at the best of times and not a clue at the worst.

This was one of those "not a clue" times. The rest of her office hummed at her quietly. Placed around her like tiny monuments were the stacks of papers she'd taken out of the archive for this assignment. The few personal items she'd managed to retrieve out of the evacuation. Her personal cell phone, kitty cat strap dangling over the side of the desk. A microwave spotlessly clean from disuse. A cold mug of tea she'd retrieved from the lounge in a break that was too far gone and too short to be called a break by any real standard.

But she'd promised sempai results by her return from Turner's quarters. And damned if she wasn't going to have them, one way or another. Of course Misato's phone call had shrunk her deadline to a level that was by her guess nearly impossible. But she so desperately wanted to try. Had to try. If not for herself, at least for Ritsuko.

It had been and still was intimidating to work under such a brilliant mind. Only Dr. Souryu had bested Ritsuko in intelligence and accomplishment in the scientific world but, now with her death, even that margin was fast fading in the light of Ritsuko's latest achievements. The MAGI, the Plugsuits, and most of NERV's network security was handled entirely by Dr. Akagi now. Three technological marvels most could not even begin to comprehend, Maya included.

But when she watched Ritsuko work with her systems or the suits, it was like watching someone work magic. She could follow motions and gestures of her programming but, the totality of it, the beautiful subtly and simplicity was often too elegant to comprehend until some deep analysis later. Fuyutsuki had hand-picked her with good cause. Maya supposed then, that it was some sort of compliment to be, in turn, hand-picked by Ritsuko.

She was a lieutenant more by convenience than anything else. She had no military experience and it was only that she could follow the MAGI's insane information volume with some infantile understanding that had promoted her to Shinji's official operator. Often, though she found herself struggling to conceal it, she was deeply concerned or scared during the course of his missions, this last one almost teeth-grinding in pressure. To think that the commander had ordered his top two pilots terminated at the drop of the hat did little to ease her fears.

She wasn't sure if she was more afraid of Fuyutsuki now or however terrible and powerful SEELE must be. They had orchestrated the N2 attack after all. And from what little else she knew, they controlled some good portion of the modern world as well.

As she scrolled back up again for another run through, Ritsuko knocked twice and entered. Maya found herself blushing out of surprise and a little habit as well.

_Beautiful and smart. _

Ritsuko smiled warmly as her coffee mug steamed in the entrance.

"Maya you look like your brain is about to explode. Let's take a break together and discuss this over some food, or have you already eaten? No of course not. Goodness girl, am I going to have to stop giving you deadlines?" She knew her apprentice well.

She found herself desperately trying not to ogle the beauty of that mole that always reminded her of the old American actress—the one you could still find posters of these days if you looked hard enough. _M-something, wasn't it? _Her sempai's blonde hair almost in the same style as well. And that famous picture of the long-gone woman standing over the air vent, trying to push that white skirt down to cover the panties she could not conceal like some school girl straight out of the manga she read in high school—to imagine Ritsuko like that—_Oh God, I'm doing it again. Stop staring at her like that!_

Maya grinned anxiously and stowed her laptop on her desk.

"Sorry, sempai. This one is tricky."

"That's why I gave it to you." The blonde winked at her and Maya found her legs shaking slightly as she stood. She grabbed a file off of one of the piles with a jittery hand and followed the white lab coat out of the cramped office and down the corridor into the slightly less cramped lounge.

Ritsuko ordered a green tea and sandwich for Maya and nothing for herself, content to sip at the coffee. Maya was trying her hardest to keep her gaze aimed into the tea. Today was one of those days, she supposed.

"So, how is the move treating you?"

Maya was used to her sempai being sociable. Ritsuko seemed to enjoy looking out for her. Maybe even taking care of her. _Or is that just my hentai little head? _

"It's been okay. Lots of work getting everything running the same way. The re-sweep for listening devices was a pain once we had command and the Children's quarters secured. Now we're just trying to re-stabilize the MAGI mostly."

"I meant _you_, silly. How are _you_ doing?"

Maya coughed, trying to cover the surprise. Ritsuko rarely pried at all into her personal life, content to keep the relationship intensely professional.

"Um, fine I guess."

_Is she being unusually concerned or am I just imagining things? _

"Good. That's good to hear."

The doctor stared into the table, eyes ticking back and forth slightly in what Maya instantly recognized as her calculating face. She must have been consumed by some equation in her head, abruptly lost on their conversation. She grew nervous as the doctor continued stare and the silence stretched.

"Is everything okay, sempai?"

The doctor blinked, returning to the lounge.

"Oh. Yes, sorry. Just more problems from Turner's end of things. Apparently Shinji's getting into trouble as well. You know. The usual."

"I see."

She sipped at her green tea hesitantly.

"So. Down to business. What have you figured out?"

"Not much, unfortunately." She sighed. "I can't tell if it's a screwed up reading or if there's something wrong in the Plugsuit sensors or what. From what I've referenced, we've never got readings like this before. Technically they shouldn't even be possible..."

"Hmm." Ritsuko twirled a finger in one of her yellow bangs playfully, a gesture Maya found surprisingly youthful for someone Ritsuko's age. "Okay then, assume it isn't an error. Assume whatever we're getting is actually happening."

Maya's eyes widened. She gritted her teeth, trying to match Ritsuko's intuition and to catch on to her sempai's idea.

"Could that even be possible? I mean, if that's true... how, how could the S2 Engine be doing that? Shinji didn't activate the unit until a few minutes later. There's no way that signature could be manifesting without him unlocking the engine beforehand. Right, sempai?" She sounded uncertain. They'd had minor errors before, but nothing on this size or scale. Nothing this weird.

Something in Ritsuko's stare, behind the eyeglasses darkened. Deepened.

"Cross-reference the readings with the spike we see in Shinji's synchronization with the suit. See if they match up."

Maya set down her cup, startled by the revelation. The timeline matched. She'd seen both datasets enough times already to know. She was sure of it now. Why hadn't she thought of this before? And furthermore, what did it mean? What had happened during operation 304 to Shinji's suit? Or what had happened to Shinji?

"If they do match up," Maya said slowly, "what does that mean, sempai?"

Ritsuko, if she had an answer did not give it. Her gaze shifted to Maya's firmly. She felt uncomfortable looking into those blue eyes now.

_Something bad. It means something bad. _

* * *

Touji and his sensei were luckily not wearing Plugsuits as they entered the observation deck. Shinji watched from the mirrored glass above them, regarding as Touji and the man parried blows from one another. The glass oddly patterned, translucent hexagons tracing over its surface to suggest capabilities far more advanced than simply peering into the room below them. Both were in white, featureless sparring clothes. The sensei looked vaguely Japanese, not so surprising since he had probably been trained under Fuyutsuki before NERV existed—before Envoy became the international word whispered among military elite and foreigners like Asuka had gotten involved in the program. 

The room was sparse, chairs set up on an incline in a theater style so that commanders or generals or whomever it was could watch the next Special Forces group go at it, take notes, try and duplicate or replicate whatever happened on the tatami between that man and their soldiers. They couldn't. Not entirely as the MAGI's spying had revealed. There was something about their attempts that had never gotten off the ground; as if they were teaching the same course materials with the wrong instructor. And they were. If the man was a real sensei, they were nearly impossible to duplicate without Fuyutsuki's steady, shaping hand. It kept the military men infuriated and kept them sending new counter-terror units to the sensei.

Hollens had grown more and more quiet as they descended further and further into a base he had probably never known as being this big. His posture had grown resigned as if he knew there was no backing out of whatever he'd gotten into; Shinji could see now why he'd been chosen as a security captain. He was a proper soldier taking his orders with no resistance. He watched the two of them repel one another with a faint interest, half-curious, and half just waiting for the damn ride to be over.

All three of them had moved in silence, Asuka growing oddly quiet herself as they descended further—why he wasn't sure. If she was concerned that Shinji might try anything with Touji, it didn't show. But then it wouldn't. Kaji would have never allowed an emotional betrayal of that magnitude—unpredictability was the only constant with an Envoy, child or not.

"Well," she said, "here they are. What now, intrepid leader?" The irony was a little too forced to be genuine. Perhaps she really was worried Shinji might do something rash.

"Now, we regretfully inform his sensei that Touji will no longer be practicing here. Whatever happened at school was concocted by his teacher, not command. They wouldn't stand for a display like that in public."

"You're just going to ask for him back?" She had one hand on her hip, stance tilted with her skeptical tone.

"You could call it 'asking,' I suppose."

"Shinji, don't—" she started.

"I won't. Things will be more civilized then earlier today." Something relaxed in the blue eyes. The faint worry at the corners of her lips evaporated.

Hollens switched his gaze between them like a man waiting for his execution.

"So that guy down there," he glanced out of the windows again, "he's another one of... whatever you kids are?"

Asuka analyzed him from somewhere in the depth of those red bangs.

"You sure you want the answer?" she asked.

"Is there any point in not telling me? I'm clearly not getting out of this without getting promoted to God-knows-what."

"Yeah, you're probably right." She looked back over her shoulder at the two of them trading blows. "He is... one of us."

"Right." A sigh. As if he'd seen it coming all along. "And I suppose he's the real reason you guys dropped in."

"Correct," Shinji replied, and began to make his way for the stairwell down to the chamber. The two of them followed him after Hollen's looked one last time at the two of them sparring.

As they eased the door open at the bottom of the stairwell and stepped out onto the edge of fake tatami patterning on smart mats, student and teacher froze, both locking eyes on the trio.

"Ikari... what are you..." Touji said across the space, face flushed red with the workout.

The sensei did not speak.

"Koko matte," Shinji said aside to her.

_Wait here. _

"Hai. Ki o sukete." The worry stayed lurking somewhere behind it.

_Okay but be careful. _

Hollens stared at them emptily, apparently not versed in Japanese. Shinji left the two of them on the edge of the mats, removing his shoes and walking out to meet them. The pseudo-Japanese hatched patterning was hard as wooden boards underneath his feet. But sensors in the foam would force them to flex to softness when enough force was applied—like some one getting knocked on their ass, for example. Hopefully it would not come to that.

He gave a respectful bow to both of them. Only Touji returned it, confusion still held in the dark eyes. _Is it so hard to believe, Suzuhara? Who else could match an Envoy in a fist fight? _

The other man regarded him silently, arms by his side and feet slightly apart that only whispered at a fighting stance even to Shinji's trained senses. _Maybe this won't be so civil after all_. He decided to address the more receptive of the two first.

"It was a good bout today, Suzuhara-san. I only wish we could have done it on more friendly terms. And perhaps on these mats. I hope your shoulder is healing okay."

Then Touji was turning on heels, the anger barely contained as he addressed his teacher.

"Why didn't you tell me, Tatsuki-sensei? Why didn't you tell me he was one of us?"

"I told you only what you wanted to hear." He spoke Japanese with the hint of an accent that suggested a foreign upbringing. Chinese or maybe Korean. His tone was soft, not at all matching the sudden stiffness that had swept into him. He was putting some effort into not disciplining his student for the outburst, Shinji could see. Of course that was all to maintain that he had any sort of right to do it in the first place.

"Liar. You told him whatever would get you a fight between Misato's prize student and your own." Shinji did not fear retribution. If the man was truly a sensei he would not dare to retaliate against Shinji. Touji clearly would not pose a problem any further either. He was now firmly directed at his own sensei.

"I told him what would alleviate all of the anger he had been carrying since the Tokyo-3 bombing. Whatever would make him forgive the loss of his sister."

Touji flinched but the fists remained closed, tightening. Shinji continued, refusing to let himself get distracted. He and Touji could talk later.

"You can believe whatever you like. The First Branch is relieving you of teaching the Fourth Child any further. Touji will be coming with me."

This got him.

"You think you can just march in here and do this to me?" he barked. "You think you can just take my student without even asking? Who do you think you are, Shinji Ikari? Who's authority do you think you represent? You're still nothing but a student."

He stayed cool. Had to. This was getting out of hand.

"My sensei would not agree. Fuyutsuki doesn't either."

A bulge in the man's eyes. He was controlling himself very poorly. Shinji could see where Touji had gotten it from now.

"You think you can teach him any better?" He waited for any reaction and then laughed; the sound of it was wretched to Shinji's ears." Come then, show us mighty Ikari, if you've really learned anything at all from Misato." His yell filled the cavernous chamber.

Tatsuki turned to his student. "Touji, step off to the side."

His student did not, frozen in place. Shinji's mind skipped at beat. This was not how senseis treated students. _No, no sensei would openly challenge a student. Not in their right mind. He'll be disciplined severely over this. Maybe worse. _

"Move!"

Touji took a final, helpless glance at Shinji, eyes filled with the apology he could not utter. Shinji nodded to him. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Asuka barely keeping herself from leaping onto the mats as well as Touji trudged towards her. _Don't worry about me. I will handle this, one way, or another._

"A duel, Tatsuki-san?" Shinji asked, buying any time he could.

"Don't patronize me. Overconfidence is a symptom of weakness, Ikari." He paraphrased Fuyutsuki poorly, but Shinji had wanted him distracted. He rushed his ugly smile, aiming for the waist.

Quell swept into his head as the moment stretched, the sensei trying desperately to set up for a block he had not intended to make. The room blurred around Shinji as her voice, or what he imagined might have been her voice, filled him.

_"If violence is inevitable, strike! You can't hold the moral high ground if you're dead." _

The knee hit him under the ribs, but he had bounded away enough that none of them cracked. Shinji forced all of the previous thoughts of the day out of his head. Kensuke, Touji, his sensei, and Asuka all faded away in the rush of Envoy cold, sweeping in like an old, old friend.

Only Quell, Misato's lessons, and its small whispers of how to kill this man remained.

_Full power. _

Shinji sprung the distance between them into a kick aimed at neck height. A forearm came up catching it enough to slow it down but the damage was done. Tatsuki staggered under the blow, barely holding his footing as he retreated further from the strike zone. Shinji circled, waiting.

His Asian features were crunched and furious now, lips quivering with the open indignation that _he_, an Envoy, could be attacked and even bested by a student. And in that moment Shinji knew now there was no way this man was any sort of Envoy. Not in the true sense. There was no calm, no open passivity or neutrality that gave Shinji all the advantage he needed to end this fight. _One more move. Maybe two if he's lucky._

Shinji probed a little closer.

_Wait for the sign. _

"Fuyutsuki will never stand for this. You've signed your own prison sentence, Ikari," he mumbled.

He tried to come at Shinji as the sentence rolled off his tongue, attempting to replicate Shinji's surprise. It failed. Chops too disorderly with the rage they competed with. Kicks that were foolishly obvious; drunken sweeps of his fists compelled only by his fury.

Shinji took the drive at him and spun around it, landing an elbow near his spine. Tatsuki crumpled with the impact and fell into the mats, flexing them downward briefly in an odd-looking concave motion that no real tatami could reproduce.

It was done.

"Fuyutsuki-sensei thanks you for your cooperation. We'll be leaving now. And for your sake, I would not mention any of what happened today to your superiors if you don't want to spend the rest of your life in a six-by-four cell. But that's just a suggestion."

Shinji bowed at the man as he gasped and clutched his back on the floor, then turned to leave him there.

"Your father was a dog," he gurgled at Shinji's back. "And your mother was no better. She _let_ him use her. Wanted him to."

Something in Shinji made him stop. Would not let him walk away any further. Asuka staring at him, her face waiting, anticipating. And Touji's gaping shock that his sensei had just been totally defeated in three moves by the boy he knew earlier today as no sort of Envoy. Hollens trying to comprehend whatever had been happening in all the Japanese he could not follow.

The conditioning quivered under the pressure of this new thing in him, desperately trying to dispel whatever dared to grow. Trying to keep him walking away. Unnecessary thoughts. Unnecessary feelings. His fist clenching beside him. The simple want to do violence that should have matched the conditioning mindset and instead clashed so firmly. An inner war.

_Let. It. Go. _

He didn't turn around. Kept walking towards Asuka's frightened stare and Hollens' confused frown.

"I saw it happen, Ikari. I saw them together and I knew. I knew!" he laughed hoarsely, mad and embittered in the same.

"We're finished here," Shinji said to her softly as he reached the edge of the mats. "Kairou."

_Let's go home._

The four of them left through the main exit, leaving the man cackling between gasps on the floor.

* * *

Shinji took the bike home alone. Kaji had been waiting for them at the airstrip with a large domestic helicopter idling behind him. The introductions had been clipped. Command had only reached the pad in time to hassle them before Kaji defused the situation with his perpetual charm and a spice of Fuyutsuki's authority. Shinji's bluff had worked out after all. 

No one had spoken on the way out of the branch.

When he arrived home things were a little less grim. Formal introductions and so forth. Asuka must have spoken to Touji on the flight home because as Shinji entered, he regarded his fellow Envoy with a new, more curious eye.

Misato did her best to play hostess in between flirts from Kaji. She took him aside briefly at his entrance and said they would "talk" tomorrow. Rei's only acknowledgement of his return was a silent nod as if she'd expected this outcome all along. And maybe she had. She was Rei, after all. Asuka only watched him from the corner's of his eyes, the concern for him seeping through the way it sometimes would with Misato.

Dinner had been cramped but most everyone was talkative, even Touji. Everyone except for Shinji really. He remained nearly silent throughout the meal, almost saying less than Rei who seemed content to observe the group as she most always did.

Now he was lying down in his sparse new room, trying to coax himself to sleep. He and Touji had moved into Kaji's room when dinner and clean-up was over. Sleep was reluctant, would not come even as the hours ticked past midnight. Troubling thoughts of today gliding in and out of his mind, forcing him awake at every moment of rest.

Somewhere beside him, Touji quietly inhaled and exhaled regularly enough that Shinji assumed he must be asleep already.

"Ikari," he whispered into the darkness of their room. "You awake?" _Had me fooled._

"Yeah. Can't sleep"

"Me neither."

More breathing. Neither of them turned toward each other, content to speak to the ceiling. Conditioning didn't need facial expression to hear the emotional weight of a speaker anyways. And Touji's was oddly unfamiliar, something new entering is somewhat outgoing voice. Something hesitant.

"I just. Wanted to say. About today. Sorry. What I did was really. Stupid."

"Not at all. I don't hold anything against you."

The boy beside him sighed. Shinji found himself unaccustomed to this tone of voice from Touji. He had appeared so pretentious in school but now he was oddly humble, almost embarrassed sounding.

"Thanks. I guess I just... needed someone to blame, sort of like what sensei—I mean, like what Tatsuki said."

"Not at all. Your anger was justified. I was the same way too. After the bombing."

Odd memories of berating Fuyutsuki in his old office. Misato's gentle hand, placed on his shoulder as he came so close to crying for the first time since... Kensuke's smile in their old classroom, camera in hand. That first awful shake in the command center when he knew, just knew, that something had gone terribly wrong.

"I guess it's just humans have a funny way of assuming tragedy only ever touches themselves. We forget everybody else has their own sadness too."

"Yeah. We do."

Another silence. Nighttime sounds from outside their window whispering to them. A police siren somewhere in the distance, ghostly quiet.

"Do you think maybe, if you don't mind, do you think you could tell me about him? About Kensuke?"

And Shinji was smiling then. Not sure why himself. He couldn't contain it. Didn't want to. He told the conditioning to go play by itself for a while.

"Yeah. Sure."

_Not such a bad guy. Suzuhara-kun. _

"He was a really smart kid. Loved his video camera. Somehow, I think you two would have been friends if you'd ever met him. I met him my first day..." and on into the late night. He spoke and spoke until the both of them had drifted into gentle snores.

_Not such a bad guy. _

Dreams of his mother. A woman who did _not_ just let things happen. Good dreams.

_Six Fin _

* * *

A/N: It's late again! So sorry. I went to Nara this weekend and I've sort of been letting this slip while I juggle everything else over here. I really struggled with this chapter. Anyways, thanks for all the interest and lovely reviews. Of course critiques are always appreciated too but try and find something to say about the actual story, not the fucking summary (Rah Xephon I'm looking at you here). 

As you may or may not have noticed I have another story being posted called "Behind Closed Doors" which is mostly my lamenting love for Shinji/Asuka pairing. Before you draw your various bladed weapons, it's not competing for my time on this. I had it completed long before I ever started posting this so it technically doesn't count as my writing two stories at once.

I feel like this chapter was a little too Spartan on detail for my liking although it has its moments. Now what I've really got to struggle with is the next few chapters. A part of me really wants to jump into the meat of the story but another wants to give more time for character development. While I have the whole rest of the story planned out this is sort of the only blank spot in it. Literally all I had written down was "Touji moves into the apartment." So much for my outlining skills, haha.

Thanks for being patient with the reviews. I hope the pacing hasn't been too dreadfully slow. I like to snowball, what can I say except the second half of this story will be even faster and denser (I hope). Much love to my reviewers. You guys seriously rock my world. Naon suggested I make a forum for this story. Do we have anything to discuss or would that be too self-indulgent of me? (careful, my ego must be kept in check from time to time)

Japanese lesson for this chapter:

-You may have noticed that some of the character names are spelled "weird." "Gendou," "Souryu," and "Hyuuga" for example. This is the way of spelling elongated vowels in romaji (Romanized Japanese writing). Gendo's name is not pronounced "Gen-do" but rather "Gen-do-o" (long "o" sound) if that makes any sense. In order to elongate, you use a similar vowel. You can have double a's, i's, and u's. For "e" you use "i" after, and for "o" you use "u" after as well. So, as another example the word "keigo" is pronounced "ke-e-go" with a long "ay" sound.


	7. Encouragement Games

**Neon Genesis Evangelion**

**A Thousand Years of Secrecy**

Disclaimer: I own neither Evangelion nor Altered Carbon (or any other book in the Takeshi Kovachs series). If either Gainax or Mr. Morgan have an issue with any of the content presented, please contact me by e-mail to remove it.

* * *

**Seven – **_Encouragement / Games_

"_You can see its whispers in the clash of two horsemen. They resonate across the whole of the Earth."_

The sound of the western doorknob bolted him upright in the Saturday morning dawn. He began reaching for the Nemex under the mattress as a groggy-looking Misato Katsuragi peaked her head through the crack of the doorway.

She smiled at him, rubbing grit from her eyes. "Good morning, Shinji-kun."

He looked at her quizzically, retrieved his hand from the Nemex and ran it through his bed-head. The hair refused to comply.

"Something up?"

She opened the door a little wider and stepped over the precipice. The teddy bears were winking at him from her pajamas.

"Yeah, we need to talk. In private. I figured you'd want to before anyone else is awake," she said softly, looking over at Touji as she spoke.

He frowned at her.

"Or were you also planning on having me make waffles in time for breakfast?" The words drooped out of his sleepy voice, eyes blinking at her slowly.

She looked caught in the act, innocent smile gleaming at him. She bowed a little. "Well, you know I always burn them."

And he was lying back down again.

"Hey!" she whispered, just loud enough to not quite disturb Touji's snores. "I was just wondering! You don't have to cook if you don't want to. But, uh. We really do need to talk. Fuyutsuki asked me."

He propped himself up on his elbows now.

"You serious?"

"I'm afraid so."

"So what did I do this time?"

She grumbled something to herself but did not answer.

"Look, just get up okay. We can talk about this when you're... um, dressed." A grin sneaking between tangled strands of dark hair as her eyes dipped off his face.

Shinji followed her gaze down at himself under the covers. Well one part was awake at least. Sheepishly, he retrieved his pillow and put it over the offending bump in the comforter.

"Still sleeping in the buff, are we?" she said, laughing softly at him.

"Not. Funny. Misato."

"Really? But I thought it was." She winked at him. "Or are you just embarrassed cause you were dreaming about someone around here. Perhaps an unavailable older woman?" she said, striking a pose far too sexy for the pajamas with another laugh. She shut the door, leaving him to his privacy.

"That'll be the day," he retorted to the door. More laughter from outside his room.

Shinji moved through the motions of dressing in the early morning quiet of the city, which was surprisingly softer than it tended to be at night. Their apartment was on the corner of their building, and while it was not made to house six people comfortably, the view was a rather decent one.

The contractor had a solid record of construction from NERV's accounts and they had the benefit of living next to some impossibly old neighbors who just happened to be related to certain politicians holding office. "Insurance," Misato had said.

Shinji hoped things would not be escalating to that level just yet, even if the US was a bit unstable as an ally.

As he tip-toed out of his room and shut the door behind him, he spotted Kaji draped ridiculously over their only couch, drool pooling under his wide open mouth onto the new leather. Whatever refinement he had seen when first meeting the man shattered with the image.

Misato was sipping at something in the kitchen cupped in both hands.

"If he stays like that, no one's going to watch any TV there ever again," he pondered aloud.

"That stuff rots your brain anyways. Look what it did to him," she said, motioning for Shinji to take a seat next to her.

He laughed under his breath despite the early morning.

"So?" he said, sitting down.

"So."

More sipping.

"You want something to drink?" she offered.

He cringed.

"Can we just, oh I don't know, get on with it?"

It was then that Misato made the same gesture he'd grown to dread over his time spent with her in Japan. She smiled but her eyes weren't. It was the smile she put on whenever there was bad news afoot; when she was about to say how he'd won a new car but it just happened to be on fire. It was moments like these that made Shinji wonder if Misato had to smile through a lot of pain when she was a child. But she rarely, if ever, spoke about her childhood. It also gave her the nice habit of not bringing up his in return. As if she'd only known him from the day he moved to Tokyo-3.

She put the cup down and looked into his eyes deeply.

"What you did yesterday was wrong, Shinji-kun."

He rolled his eyes. "Not another speech on orders, please Misato-chan."

She grabbed his hand with hers gently and he froze under the grip. Something about that physical sensation. It was too similar, too soft to ignore.

"Shinji-kun. Nine times out of ten, Fuyutsuki agrees with the decisions you make but, he'd like you to ask before you make them. We can't just all play our cards how we see fit, even if we have the perfect strategy."

He groaned but did not pull away from her.

"I know that Misato-chan, I do understand. I may not be a sensei yet, but I am an Envoy."

She smiled at the pseudo-teenaged comment but it evaporated into something more serious. "We're on thin ice over here, Shinji-kun. This is not Japan. The Second Branch is... well, let's just say they aren't behaving as expected. We don't want to attract any more attention to ourselves than necessary."

"Look, if this is about the bike, I wanted it—"

"This isn't about the bike. It's not even about Touji. Just. Be careful. Okay?" She squeezed his fingers under hers. "This is just a breather. Sooner or later, SEELE will come knocking. Enjoy your time now but don't do anything... just, don't do anything I wouldn't do."

The layers of armor came peeling away at the physical sensation. The tone of her voice. He cherished these moments.

"Misato, I don't want to fight anymore." Just whispers now. "I'm tired of killing."

She pulled him into a hug with little resistance, placing his head on her shoulder, stroking his hair with one hand. This way he could not see the tears welling in her eyes. She put all her control into keeping her voice even.

"For right now Shinji, you may not have that choice. But one day, I promise. One day..."

They stayed like that for a few more moments, breathing against one another as the birds began to announce the new day had arrived. He withdrew first and she watched him stand, something proud in her gaze. Something about the boy she'd seen turn into a young man.

Kaji's open eye traced his back as it disappeared, shuffling into his bedroom; it snapped shut again before Misato could walk past.

* * *

"That one is burning." Rei's index finger extending like a sliver of moon in the kitchen. He quickly rescued the blackening square with his spatula. 

"Thanks, Rei."

"You are welcome."

"Thefe arr mwonderfulmf!" Misato proclaimed around rapid mouthfuls.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Kaji admonished, stirring his eggs playfully. She bopped him on the arm and kept munching happily on a slice of toast.

Rei continued to supply and clean each needed instrument whenever necessary, like any good doctor's assistant. She had become so accustomed to his style he hardly ever had to ask any more.

Touji struggled in not-quite-fluent Japanese with Asuka over their half-devoured morning plates and the smell of a distinctly western breakfast which only he was at all familiar with. Apparently Shinji's imitation had been pretty accurate by the boy's yelps of delight. His new roommate was now asking about Germany as best he could, much to the Second Child's delight.

Shinji tightened a string on his apron, one of the few jobs he expressly did not regulate to Rei, sensitive areas and all. He flipped sausages at a frantic pace but with the even, careful motions of a seasoned chef. It was partly his growing-up and partly getting roomed with Misato that had turned him into a semi-admirable cook.

Kaji, who'd yet to truly experience the "Shinji breakfast," had found his face contorted in surprise upon his first bite and had happily relegated all further cooking duties to Ikari.

Rei, though she did not have to, waited by his side, helping where she could. Now that the cooking phase was winding down, Shinji did not truly need her help as before but she would always wait until he had seated himself to do the same, a quality he found oddly sweet in a way.

He glided the last of the waffles onto the two plates they set aside, guiding them in next to the scrambled eggs and bacon before proceeding to turn off everything that had been plugged in for the ordeal. Unusually, Misato had agreed to do the dishes for once as a special welcome to their new housemate. It was a kind of gratitude Shinji suspected Touji would only fully appreciate in hindsight once the chores really got under way for the four of them. For now, he remained blissfully unaware and engaged with Asuka.

"Shinji sit down, your making us feel guilty," Asuka urged from her seat.

"Yeah, Shinji, don't wear yourself out before the day has even start," Touji said.

"Started," Rei corrected, joining Shinji at the table.

"Right. Started." He took out his frustration with the language on a bite of golden eggs.

"So, what are you kids up to for your first Saturday in the city?" Kaji asked.

"Don't know," Shinji admitted with a shrug.

"We didn't actually really plan for anything special," Asuka continued.

"Well I'm sure Touji knows some cool places, right?" Misato said in English for his sake. She held the fork over her plate not quite comfortably, unused to the lack of chopsticks to rely upon.

"Yeah! Of course! Clubs, the mall, you name it. I've done just about everything there is to do here. Well besides the gay bars and stuff."

Kaji snorted a chuckle. Misato wrinkled her nose. Rei, oddly enough, quirked an eyebrow at the comment.

Asuka grinned wickedly, clasping her hands together suddenly. Everyone stared at her, confused.

"You want to go to a gay bar, Asuka?" Shinji asked.

"Arcades," she said. "Do you have any arcades around here?"

"Uh, sure we do," Touji said, scratching the back of his head.

"Perfect," she purred.

"Asuka used to beat a lot of knuckleheads back in Germany; betting and that kind of stuff," Kaji explained.

"Suckers never saw it coming until I had their money in my pocket." She smiled fondly at remembered beatdowns.

"It's a beautiful day today guys. Make sure you try and spend some of it outside," Misato said.

"Oh we'll walk there," Asuka assured.

Misato did not seem too impressed with the answer. She pulled away from the table, grabbing her plate as she did. "I guess I better get on with the dishes then. Bring me your plates whenever you're finished, mmkay?"

"Well I guess I'll hit the shower then... unless you wanted it first, Rei?" Asuka stood.

"A word, Asuka-chan," Kaji interupted.

"Yes, sensei. It's all yours, Rei."

The pale girl nodded at her roommate between bites of waffles completely devoid of syrup.

Asuka followed him out onto the living room balcony, closing the door as they exited. They kept their backs to the sliding door so as to stop any possible lip reading. Kaji spoke to the view pouring out beneath them, lit golden by the rising sun.

"Status on operation 176. We may have to accelerate the timeline forward, slightly."

"Yes, sensei."

She told him her progress.

* * *

"Right on time, Mr. Kaji," the sly voice welcomed. 

He took a quick glance around their meeting place in the park, searching for the obvious points of surveillance and ambush with split-second precision. Satisfied, he decided to continue the conversation letting his conditioning passively hunt for danger.

"What do you want?" He kept it terse so Griff would make no mistakes about their relationship: one of mutual distrust.

He was wearing a white collared shirt and business jacket in contrast to the American's casual outfit. The folds of the jacket did a great job of hiding the Nemex's side holster even with Kaji's long stride and, it was non-descript enough to fit in, even in a West coast Saturday afternoon. This being despite that no one seemed to wear suits, even during the work week; a far cry from Japan's salary men masses who didn't even seem to slip out of the uniform on weekends.

Instead of replying, the spook, or whatever he was, pulled out a cigarette pack, offering one to Kaji. They were an expensive brand, non-processed tobacco from the East coast grown in atriums that were regulated like bio-weapons labs to keep pesticides out of the equation. The farmer on it waved to him with a friendly grin as Griff retracted the pack with a shake of Kaji's head—OLED paper, animating the tiny logo to make the little green man appear as if he had gone back to picking tobacco leaves off a row again.

"Just a little post-game huddle is all," he finally answered, putting a match to the tip of the white paper. Some part of the Envoy in Kaji wondered if this was a signal to someone watching that he had made contact with the target. But nothing shifted in his periphery so the sleeping dragon lay back down for the time being.

Around them the afternoon crowds of soccer moms and socialites stirred in the greenery, admiring a break from the sheer urbanity outside or headed some place else by foot—not that Americans tended to do anything by foot Kaji reminded himself.

"I don't have time for games, Griff," he dismissed, turning to leave.

"Aren't you even curious how I got your private number?" Griff inquired of his backside. Slowly Kaji spun around again.

"I imagine one of the only unregistered phones that Echelon couldn't peak into perked up your little friends' ears." It was not so much a guess as a statement of fact in the beautiful way Envoy intuition could assure that if one had enough pieces, the puzzle would invariably complete on its own.

He smiled and nodded as if he'd expected the answer all along. If he knew anything about Envoys, he should have.

"Very acute indeed." He spread his arms wide open as if to reveal he was unarmed. Not that Kaji couldn't spot the holstered low-caliber pistol. The gesture was probably more for dramatic effect anyways. But Kaji had already seen enough performance.

"Presumably you have something to tell me, Griff. I tend to have a... _distaste_ for conversations without objective." He let the tone of his voice hint at the danger presented. He could see Griff nearly flinch, something shifting in his eyes at the aural signals of "you don't want to know what happens when you waste Ryouji Kaji's time."

"Of course, of course. No games, Kaji. Just a little information exchange is all." He made a placating gesture and a bow that could hardly be called one by Japanese standards.

"Make your offer."

"The children have been placed under observation."

His laugh cracked out into the breezy afternoon, sharp and completely empty of humor. "You're going to have to do much better, Griff. Why don't you actually try giving me something I don't already have."

"I was going to, if you'd let me finish," he responded indignant. "These are elements outside of my group's control. I have no guarantee of their motive or susceptibility to outside forces."

"Police grunts will be of no concern to us."

Griff smiled something ugly and let the tobacco flavor spill out of his mouth and into the air, taking in the view by their bench and letting Kaji stew.

"Typically police grunts don't use chameleoflage, do they?" A laconic smile followed as he scanned for Kaji's reaction.

Instead, Kaji's stare only burned back at him with an intensity of interest.

"Typically they don't, no."

"You aren't concerned for their wellbeing?" He misread Kaji's stoic face, filing away facts and shirking off any emotional discharge.

"What do you want in return?" He cut the line of inquiry as it was veering far too close to the matter of the Child Envoys.

"Information on our kraut friends." Kaji wasn't sure if he'd used the World War Two slang because he was afraid of being spied on or out of some genuine dislike. If he'd been in the American's position, he imagined it would be some combination of the two.

"Start with Marduk." No need to say anything more. Not yet.

"That's all you've got? A name?"

Kaji's stare blanked at him in reply.

"I want a more even trade for our next meeting," he grumbled and turned his gaze up into the towering oaks surrounding them.

"I'll take it down for consideration. Have a good afternoon." Kaji turned before he could make any sort of parting reply, stifling him. A bemused stare followed him out of the park.

When he was a safe distance away, he opened up his channel to Misato.

"Did you get the photographs?" he sub-vocaled to her.

"Do I like Yebisu? I'm uploading them to the MAGI right now via Suit-Link along with any partial name match for variants of Griff. Ibuki's helping break into their personnel files as we speak."

"That's my girl."

* * *

"How—how can she keep winning, it isn't possible. It's like some sort of curse." Touji released his grip on the joystick, slumping back from the machine in defeat. 

She laughed over-dramatically, gesticulating wildly before them.

"No one dares to face Souryu, vanquisher of fools?"

Shinji shook his head. "Asuka, did you ever do anything besides play videogames during your free time?"

"Don't be jealous because you don't have my 'maddskillz,' Third. Honed in the dark allies and underbellies of Germany's sports bars, my talent is only rivaled by my incredible beauty," she announced, guffawing all the while.

Rei stepped up to the machine blasting music and sound effects almost on par with Asuka's volume.

"Uh-oh, blue's stepping up to the plate again. You may choose my character," she said, closing her eyes and broadly sweeping her hand across the character selection screen.

"That will not be necessary," the other girl replied quietly.

A crowd of eager males had formed behind them, a few of them eyeing more than just Asuka's superb technique. Quiet acknowledgements of her skill were passed between them during bouts to some set of arcade etiquette Shinji could neither decipher nor maintain interest in. He watched as Asuka chose a character revealing just a little more skin than her chosen outfit of tank top and denim miniskirt and quietly tried to imagine what it had felt to be like in the sunlight.

They'd been jumping from machine to machine for hours, all fighting games, and all apparently ones Asuka was familiar with. Shinji's eyes had slowly glazed over to the dazzling super-moves and ridiculous approximations of martial arts that ranged from physically impossible to downright wrong. Touji steamed in frustration at his side, aggravated at his continuous destruction by Asuka's nimble fingers and stinging technique.

Those few which had dared to challenge her outside of their Envoy ensemble all met an eventual death, much to the satisfaction of one beaming redhead. Asuka certainly knew how to gloat when she wanted to. Shinji's clumsy attempts to best her were often met with either swift annihilation or the cat-like toying of a superior player as she dodged, parried, and denied his moves with a gleeful pleasure. _Can't be good at everything_, he reasoned.

They'd only stayed so long because of Asuka's clever use of the palm pilot she'd tucked into her back pocket. Shinji didn't know how but, after some tweaking with the first machine she'd approached, they hadn't spent so much a quarter for any of the bouts played. Of course that didn't stop her from letting other suckers drop their money in if they wanted the challenge.

If the owner knew what was happening, he was content to let it slide—and why not? Asuka was drawing more attention to each machine she went to than the place had probably seen all week.

Shinji rubbed his brow at the raw noise the colorfully painted box spat at them upon Rei's incineration in some sort of move that was far too animated and flashy for his brain to look at any longer.

"I need a break," he said quickly. "Any takers?"

"Yeah," Touji replied, "I'm tired of getting my ass kicked. Let's get some sunlight and fresh air."

"Asuka, we'll be out front…" Shinji said.

"Sure, sure. Have fun," she responded, not looking away from the onscreen pummeling.

Shinji shaded his brow with one hand as he stepped out, buffering his eyes from the midday brightness he'd forgotten in the depths of "The X-Zone." Touji yawned and stretched beside him, equally relieved to be out of the chaos and sensory overload of the place.

"Man, and I thought I was competitive," he said around another yawn.

Shinji laughed and placed himself into a flimsy white plastic chair the farthest from the entrance he could find. Touji joined him.

"I guess that stuff will rot your brain, huh?" he thought aloud, not really to his companion.

"What was that?" Touji enquired, lazily taking in the boulevard's scenery from beside him.

"Nothing, just something silly Misato told me this morning."

"Katsuragi-san..."

Shinji looked over at the other boy, mild interest in his expression.

"What do you think of your two new senseis?"

"I really didn't know what I was missing," he began. Shinji grunted in agreement. "They're so different from Tatsuki-san. I haven't really spoken with Kaji-san all that much but he seems okay. And Misato..."

Shinji indicated for him to continue, truly curious.

"She seems like a good person."

Shinji smiled into the sky, leaning back in his chair.

"Misato-san is..." He searched for the right phrase. "A good human being. Yeah. A good person."

"Have you known her for a long time?"

"A little more than four years now. We used to live together back in—Japan." He had almost said Tokyo-3. He continued to tread lightly for Touji's benefit. Something tightened in the other boy's expression, Envoy senses picking up on the careful omission.

"She told me the truth about what happened to NERV. To Tokyo-3."

Shinji waited, deciding it was best to let Touji get whatever it was off his chest.

"She told me about how you handed in your resignation too."

Shinji made a tiny "ah" sound. "You feel the same way, then?"

"Hell no! I want those bastards to pay for what they did to my sister. I didn't really understand how evil those SEELE fucks were before but, now I'll do whatever it takes to stop them."

Shinji put a finger to his lips wearily. _No idea who could be listening, after all._

He considered Touji's outrage for a moment. Maybe he and Misato were right. People who would sacrifice a whole city to get what they wanted did not deserve any sort of power. Then again, he considered, NERV had done almost the same to Tokyo-3 with its total inaction. Did Fuyutsuki really have any other choice? He desperately wished so though his logical mind would not readily accept it.

Touji blushed, embarrassed at his blunder. "Sorry, I probably shouldn't have—"

"No worries. Just keep it low key in public."

"Right." Touji gritted his teeth, angrily flicking his vision down the street.

"I don't mean to play sensei, it's just..." Shinji started to apologize.

"It's just Tatsuki didn't teach me shit, that's what. I'm not angry at you. It's him really, the arrogant bastard."

Asuka and Rei burst free from the automatic doors under the un-lit purple and yellow neon-lettering, Rei one half-step behind her almost-skipping roommate.

"Done so soon?" Shinji joked, secretly thankful they didn't have to go back in and retrieve her from the electronic altar.

"Even winning gets old," she replied, smile still glowing as she strode towards them and joined them at the tiny table. Rei sat without a word, turning to gaze into the Saturday afternoon swing of the walking-street and its trendy people.

"Somehow I thought it would take a harpoon to get you out of there," Touji laughed.

"There was an incident," Rei said softly, not turning to join the conversation.

Asuka muttered what Shinji assumed were some very ugly curses in German to herself. He blinked at her. Touji mimicked his face.

"Idiots thought they could get a free peek while I was owning them," she answered, a light blush daring its way onto her composure for an instant.

Shinji put his head in his hands, groaning. "Please tell me you didn't, Asuka..."

"What?" she said innocently. "I just gave them a taste of a few of my favorite moves. In real life." She giggled maliciously to herself.

"The owner told us not to return. Ever," Rei finished.

"Of course. You _had_ to just teach them a lesson," Shinji scolded.

"What'd you expect anyways with an outfit like that?" Touji prodded.

"And just what the hell is that supposed to mean, Fourth?"

He and Shinji shared a grin but did not dare to reply, much to her further annoyance.

"Asuka," Rei interrupted. "Is that not the girl we met at school?"

Momentarily distracted from her fury, Asuka followed the outstretched finger aimed down the street.

"Hey, you're right. That is her. The one that was crying all over me like some nutcase."

"Yes, I thought so," Rei continued. "It appears as if she's about to be mugged."

All four of them stood up simultaneously, turning in the direction Rei indicated.

"Hikari?" Touji said quietly.

* * *

"The Americans are getting too inquisitive into the Tokyo-3 matter." 

Black slabs of artificial smoothness stared at him in the darkness, encircled with symmetric unity and perfect stillness.

"Continue to put pressure on the UN; if they don't fold we'll whet their appetite for the Rail Device. That should perk the military's interest enough to drop any progress on the N2 detonation." Keel's voice was smooth, revealing none of the German ancestry or accent that an aristocratic upbringing had afforded. The other accents of the room were stiffer, less accustomed to English than he.

"China is cracking nicely with our economic incentives. They should be fully turned shortly."

"Excellent. And what of the Ikari boy?" There was a tremor of fear and disgust in his voice as he uttered the name.

"What we've gained from our sources indicate the Suits are stored elsewhere and inactive. The CERN institute monitored no stray S2-type neutrinos to indicate otherwise. There is the possibility they may have not even been taken out of the protection of the fleet. We are still in the process of investigating the cargo disembarkation records of their flight."

"We will need that information before the Russians can effectively make any move," he cautioned.

"Have we completely ruled out using the Special Air Services? They're a bit more refined and suited to this sort of work." One of them spoke out of turn, Scandinavian accent thick and heavy.

"Special Air will not be participating except with some logistical information we're tunneling through Eurasia and a few preliminary guesses as to NORAD's response," Keel chided. "We want to maintain the façade of the alliance for as long as possible while the US continues to remain a wild card. If necessary we can always stage a coup for later. The Chechen ambassador's son has just enrolled as instructed so as to effectively cover our tracks. What is the status of Turner's continuing relationship with the First Branch and Langley?"

"His superiors will swiftly readjust his focus when we illuminate the Rail Device in further detail. The Langley contact is still beyond our reach, suggesting that he may be a tier one officer as we have suspected."

"How vexing. We will have to deal with that when possible. Turner's little fleet should pose no issues when we can open up the Chinese seaports and runways to our favor. Bribery should suffice if we must act any faster. Ikari?"

He shifted his stance slightly, not afforded the anonymity of an avatar within the darkness. But he would not have used one if offered. It was a sign of weakness in his mind. Fear. And he had enough conditioning to will away any sort of emotional candor they might try and exploit. He kept the mask of his face just as unreadable as the black columns, full of the emptiness he had practiced for so long.

"Progress has been slow but steady. If I had access to more of the Chinese weather network's processing power I would feel more confident in making the deadline agreed upon."

"Of course. We will devote the resources when they are available." He addressed the rest of the room. "Contact me only if something urgent changes, particularly in regards to the FBI's surveillance of the pests. Adjourned."

Ikari and the rest of them winked out of the darkness.

_Seven Fin_

* * *

A/N: I just wanted to clear up a few things. The second half of this story as planned should have about twice as much action moving at four times the pace. I'm sorry if the pacing of the story bothers you now but it's the only way I can include the proper amount of detail, particularly in regards to character development. What's the point in making a big splash if no one gets wet, right? 

I've noticed some have you have pointed out that Rei needs more "screen time" which I'm really trying to fix, it's just she has a tendency to be so damn quiet all the time!

Also, I'd like to say sorry again for the sub-par quality of the last chapter when I first posted it. I re-did a lot of it and made a much better chapter in my revision with some more juicy details and I think it stands much better now than it did before.

Once again, you guys are the coolest readers EVAR! Seriously though, the reviews have been much better than I had expected. You guys are getting me really pumped about where this story is going. I very graciously hope that I shall live up to expectations set forth.

Japanese lesson for this chapter:

-bah, nothing came to mind. This chapter was pretty "American." :P


	8. Method Madness

**Neon Genesis Evangelion**

**A Thousand Years of Secrecy**

Disclaimer: I own neither Evangelion nor Altered Carbon (or any other book in the Takeshi Kovachs series). If either Gainax or Mr. Morgan have an issue with any of the content presented, please contact me by e-mail to remove it.

* * *

**Eight – **_Method / Madness_

Shinji could see the twitch in the girl's legs. He could see her freckles, sparkling over a pretty face that looked far too out of place with tears streaming down its sides. She wore her brown hair in a way that faintly reminded him of Asuka. A sharp nose, and a body slightly less petite than Rei's. She was a beautiful girl, no doubt about it. The knife lingered before her, the attacker making frantic motions towards her pocket with it and shouting an abomination of English that he'd only recently discovered to be some form of gangster slang. Touji met his eyes, instant understanding in their expression.

The four of them strode to the edge of the street, through fleeing couples and yuppies which were too busy yelping frantically into their cell phones about the mugging to actually do anything about it. Some of them even sounded genuinely excited but no one was going to confront the trio of baggy-clothed men—no one except them of course.

Both they and the girl, Hikari Touji had called her—_a Japanese name?_—were far too busy in their dance of robbing and being robbed to notice as the four of them halted, examining the situation from across the street. As Shinji scanned up and down the boulevard, all of the shoppers out remained frozen a safe distance away, stunned and staring at the fiasco. There were no police, something he would have expected by now with the abundance of cellular phones and the fact they were in one of the classier parts of the city.

"Let me handle this, I owe her one," Touji said under his breath, excitement filling his voice.

"Rei, you go with him just in case, me and Asuka will hold back so we don't get in each other's way. If anything gets out of hand we'll step in. Don't make it look too easy, remember, we're just some classmates here to help out. Asuka and I will pretend to be distressed. Try to not kill any of them."

They all agreed silently and Touji nodded at Rei to begin their careful, slow progression across the asphalt, trying not to startle their targets. Shinji and Asuka meanwhile did their best to look nervous and distraught and succeeded with flying Envoy colors. A part of him wondered if he should have sent Asuka instead of Rei; but he knew, given Rei's overzealous conditioning, it was unlikely she could genuinely pretend to be nervous over the outcome of the encounter and, if Touji went a little overboard she would at least be the emotional anchor in the situation.

Touji was about halfway across the street when he got their attention.

"What are you divers doing in this part of town?" Shinji had heard the insult before, a mix of racist/classicist slang for the way that youth gangs made their money: going through the colossal amount of trash Californian suburbia could generate every day. It worked and the three boys quit jostling Hikari, turning silently.

"What you say, pretty boy? You and your girlfriend want a stick in your side now too?" Shinji did not have to see the scowl behind the ski mask to know it was there.

He watched as Touji's head barely turn in Hikari's direction; her bawling had transformed into a look of utter disbelief. She did not even notice as the knife jutted marginally in the direction of her stomach.

He took out his wallet and Shinji congratulated his roommate internally; it was a good idea to get their attention away from Hikari, lest they wind up hurting her.

"I've got five-hundred dollars saying I can knock your three Juano punkasses out by myself."

Shinji didn't suspect Touji held any real aggression for them, despite the racist slur—he had seen a few Latinos on Touji's martial arts team who had seemed more than willing to help whip his ass. But as he saw the two behind the ringleader shaking with rage, he knew the verbal snipe had gone off well.

"You chinky bitch!" the one with the knife screamed. The sliver glinted through the sunlight, flashing towards Touji's impossible grin. He slipped out of its path with a shift in his stance and it clattered onto the asphalt just before Asuka's feet. _Or maybe they were shaking from the tetrameth they're dosed to the eyes with. Cheap, dirty, angry tetrameth._

It was the kind of street drug these types loved to peddle or use themselves. The kind of shitty, home-brewed concoctions that would let you keep punching after your arm was broken and throw you into a clinical depression when you finally came down. Nothing like the military-designer stuff Shinji had seen in effect before. Less precise, more uncontrollable, much more dangerous.

Touji must have recognized its effects as well because he closed the distance between himself and the leader before the knife had hit the ground, snapping a palm into the base of thug's jaw; it sent him airborne in one knockout strike. As the adrenaline-induced conditioning set into Shinji he watched the slow motion shockwave ripple across the black ski mask, sliding up the cheap fabric tugged over guy's face.

He was now most certainly out of commission, tetrameth or not, and probably needing a new jaw as well. It might have been a little overkill for someone that was supposed to only be a martial arts champion. But with tetrameth in the equation, acting sloppy took a backseat to ending the other two's potential to seriously hurt Hikari.

And that's when the gun came out.

_Oh you have to be fucking kidding me._

* * *

"The other two are exiting the building," Grigori sub-vocaled from behind the oculars. His heat image was perched in a tree on across the street from Xander, cloaked imaging equipment protruding from the front of his face as a cluster of vaguely angular shapes. The IFF tags were still pretty basic when it came to their more esoteric equipment, only suggesting the outlines of the monocles without properly capturing it the way they represented the agent squatting in the branches and looking down the sights.

"Roger, keep the audio focus on the boys and see if we can catch the girls when they join up."

From his own tree, Xander could not as easily make out the group of them as their sitting place was obscured by the foliage between him and them. An inconvenient trunk blocked most of his view of the table and he only caught the wildest of gestures—there'd been few; he found it odd how subdued they remained for teenagers, except for the German girl anyways. He pushed his focus back onto the priorities at hand.

"Al, send 'saylay' to our Langley relay and see if their algorithms pick up anything useful. Security: total secret, full encrypt," he whispered as the children's conversation bubbled in the background over his ear-jack, wavering slightly with the sympathetic resonances being eliminated.

"Major, you know how these mobile units are with high-level encryption. That's gonna take a while."

"We're on a stakeout, Al. I think we can afford an extra five minutes. Besides, you heard what those two said—whatever it is, they don't want someone else finding it out—all the more reason to start the inquiry now," he barked back through their channel, annoyed.

"Trouble across the street, Xand'," Chavez chirped at him, urgency trembling beneath the man's gravelly voice.

"What's up?" he responded, shifting his view away from the arcade. He spotted the gangsters before Chavez could even reply.

"Looks like a mugging in progress. I don't think it's really cold enough outside to be wearing ski masks."

"Orders?" Grigori piped in.

"Have the van impersonate a call to the nearest police station as one of the shopkeepers but do _not_ engage. Repeat, do _not_ engage."

"X-ray shows a small amount of metal composite within each of their pockets. At this distance and with a moving target I can't confirm anything. Could be a knife, could be a cellphone," Pascale broke in, her voice growing agitated.

"Continue to stand down. Sight the three of them but do _not _take a shot unless one of the US citizens is endangered."

"That seems a little—" Grigori started.

"Not now, Greg. Just not fucking now, okay?" he snapped.

This was supposed to be a cakewalk run. Observation, info relay, kick back and soak up the sun. Four kids, barely even legal adults, probably puttering around downtown for the rest of the day and then going home like they were supposed to. As long as the SFPD had a half-decent dispatcher on hand they were still gravy. Never mind Homeland security's rather peculiar threat assessment for the four of them; terrorists or not, they were still just four fucking kids and they certainly weren't going to bump heads with a couple street thugs cruising for quick, high society cash—

"Hold on, hold on! The kids have noticed the muggers. Did you hear that—I think they're going to try and confront them."

_They're just four kids. They wouldn't do anything that stupid._

"One of the metallic objects is out in the open. It's a knife!"

"Sir, the one with the knife is definitely on some sort of upper. He's jittering around like a hypothermic."

_Stay calm. The police will intervene. Don't blow your cover._

"Stand down and do not take a shot until I say otherwise!"

"They're leaving the table. Two of them are crossing the street!"

"I can't get a clear pupil dilation enlargement with my current angle and all the movement, but my guess is all three of them are on some sort of amphetamine, street dosage."

"Keep your sights on the three of their heads and do not take the shot until my order!"

_It was supposed to be_

"Did you see that! He threw it—he threw the knife—"

_a cakewalk._

"One suspect confirmed as disabled. That guy knocked him out with one punch!"

"We have a firearm in the open—"

"The girl has also—"

"Where'd she—the hell? She just broke both his arms!"

"He's out—either dead or disabled.

"Disabled for life you mean."

* * *

As the Tokugawa era barreled full speed ahead with the establishment of Edo and the continual construction surrounding the capital, more and more foreigners appeared within the city limits, many from China or Korea seeking wealth and fortune. It would become the densest city of the world, far out-weighing its renamed predecessor two to one in the volume of its populace. And Edo, being a famed and quite wealthy place tended to attract the strangest of patrons.

One was a traveler from an even farther place than Asia and, standing a good foot taller than nearly all the inhabitants of the city, he was instantly recognizable. While foreigners had become a familiar sight, none quite so foreign was ever remarked to spend any significant amount of time in the place, let alone grow to the status he did. "Sutoraasu" was the only name they knew him by and the only name given. With his thick beard, brown hair, and deep-set blue eyes he was a marvel to behold and a quick favorite of the pleasure quarters.

And Sutoraasu, for all his obvious European heritage, had a gift for language and quickly developed in his Japanese to where he could carry himself in idle conversation. He made many friends, outgoing and forward to the point that most were either offended within the first five minutes of knowing him. That or absolutely enamored with the gaijin which seemed to have no regard for their quiet tact or what some called manners. His tales of traveling across mainland Asia became legend, requested by name or content at the tea houses and bars he would frequent. His stories of Europe were even more bewildering and exciting though they always lacked in any detail about himself.

Shopkeepers always remarked of how you could see that strange white object dangling around his neck between the folds of his yukata—a "kuruzafikusu" he had once called it. To the distress of many of the local priests, Sutoraasu knew little of Zen Buddhism though he seemed eager to learn, and for that they were able to forgive his astonishingly simple knowledge and chalk it up to his "gaijin ways."

Soon enough, he found himself embroiled within the samurai politics of the city for which there were plenty to be found with the Shogun's castle growing taller by day in the center. Through a confusing string of alliances, some forged from sheer curiosity of his total different-ness and others out of his loyalty to friends, Sutoraasu, all by accident, had entered into the political world of Edo quite swiftly. And with that move, Sutoraasu was forgotten; from then on he would be known only as Yoshito, infinitely preferable to his hard-to-pronounce gaijin name.

He bought one of his favored concubines from the Yoshiwara houses with his new-found status and quickly earned an even odder reputation for taking her last name, a particular quirk that would become the common joke to be made about him: "Though we offered him many good names, Yoshito took a woman's!" "What, really? Surely they lie!" "No, indeed I did," he would reply, "because I've always wanted breasts." They would all chortle merrily at each new answer and there seemed to be no end to their companion's good humor. Yoshito Katsuragi was a part of city legend now.

Though he would never earn the rank of samurai under the careful plotting of the priesthood against his unseemly foreign blood, he learned to wield a katana and followed the bushido judiciously; many envied his fearlessness in battle and he was all the more revered for his great respect of both his comrades and those he faced in battle. He studied Zen fervently while at home and quietly imbued the secrets of his other sacred religion to his wife.

When he passed away, his only son was given the white possession that had seemed permanently chained to the man's neck, and unto him the secret passed through the mother's lips. With it he took the burden and the knowledge of his destiny; he grew from it the un-spoken society that would permeate and infiltrate the city's rise and fall throughout history; their power spread invisibly, reaching across continents as modernity dawned on Japan. Slowly the "Hikari no Kodomo" were born anew. The Children of Light.

* * *

There were a handful of techniques Misato could always perform better than him no matter how hard he trained, no matter how hard he tried. She readily agreed his intellectual capacity at times rivaled even Fuyutsuki but, Misato had a way with the physical that Shinji was always envious of.

During the tail-end of the NERV evacuations she'd shoved him onto the last working transport, torn the cross from her neck, pressed into his hand, and kissed him on the forehead. He screamed for her as the airlock snapped closed on the single-person carrier and the AI quickly snatched away the controls and got him airborne. He screamed, trying to tear his way through the view port as she zipped away right before his eyes, clawing, literally clawing, at the plexisteel interior and then nearly totaling all of the cockpit's instrumentation in an effort to get the thing to turn around and just save her. But without his plugsuit it was impossible and when he began to bleed under his fingernails and the conditioning gave up on maintaining his adrenaline, all he could do was listen to her communications link and pray that he could do something to save her.

That was when he got his first real taste of Misato's conditioning—all her previous operations while she'd mentored him were classified beyond his clearance. She took three rounds, two the stomach, one to the right leg when they found her. She killed six of them unarmed. She ended another eighteen of them before the blood loss became too much and the conditioning snapped her body into hibernation mode, knocking her out on the spot.

After the bridge crew had finished the frantic disassembling of the JSSDF security hierarchies, they found her again being operated on by one of the field medics to stop her bleeding. When the anesthetic was tackled by Envoy anti-drug autonomics she bit two of his fingers clean off before passing back out again from the pain.

That was Misato. And that was more or less why Fuyutsuki had the good sense to name her sub-commander rather than any of the other Envoy Council hopefuls. Most agreed with the choice.

However, Misato for all her infinite stamina and will had always praised Rei for her incredible reflexes, particularly with regard to unarmed combat and the handful of moves they learned under the incredible stress of an Envoy's full battle-meditation.

The principle was pretty simple. Conditioning was more or less a trance-like state in many regards. The further you could slow down your heartbeat, the deeper you would fall under its control and the further out into la-la land you flew. The more mental control you had, the more muscular control, and when you could concentrate enough to unify your actions over the entirety of your body's muscles your body could do some pretty unbelievable things. Rei, with her impeccable self-control, could lower herself to this point nearly invisibly unless you tuned your vision so deeply onto her chest that you could count her heartbeats—something Shinji found to be too dangerous strategically when sparring her.

It shouldn't have surprised him then, as she popped into the air between the gun and the thug. It shouldn't have surprised him when her hands clasped his and broke every finger clutching the pistol. It shouldn't have surprised him when she held the arm and twisted it underneath herself as she cleared his head, reversing the shoulder. And it shouldn't have surprised him when she did nearly the same thing with his other arm.

Touji didn't break pace after knocking the first one out. He barreled an elbow into the ribs of the stunned partner, breaking a few of them Shinji could see. He swept a leg behind the would-be mugger as he tumbled backwards onto the pavement and hooked it, putting him flat on his back. He twitched once after he hit the ground and did not move again.

"Woah, blue is on another level…" Asuka was whispering at his side, awestruck.

"Misato-chan says she's better than most of the Council," he agreed quietly.

Touji was dusting his hands over the three bodies and Rei was guiding a stunned Hikari back towards he and Asuka with an arm around her shoulders.

"I'm gonna regroup with Touji, you two handle her for the moment."

"Hai, hai."

Hikari's confused gaze met his eyes for a moment as he strode past her, recognition flashing in her hazel eyes.

"Touji-san, daijoubu desu ka?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. More than I can say for these three dipshits." At least they were still breathing. Slowly maybe, but breathing. "What a fucking mess, eh?"

Shinji didn't respond, just bent over one of them and pulled the mask off. He was thirteen or fourteen at the oldest with patches of peach fuzz facial hair and eyes rolled up into the back of their sockets. Dirt and other sorts of filth was plastered to all the exposed skin. Shinji shook his head angrily, looking away.

"Is it like this a lot here?" he asked Touji when he felt back in control.

"Well, they don't usually come to the nice parts of town—"

"You know what I mean. They're fucking kids, Touji. Younger than us."

"Yeah," Touji frowned, suddenly sounding not so satisfied. "That's the way it goes man. Street trash, youth gangs, whatever you want to call 'em. Usually orphans or runaways. I wouldn't even have to lift up the other two masks to be able to tell you they're all black or Hispanic."

"You say that like it's their fault," he growled.

"Fuck if I know who's fault it is." He kicked the curb with his shoe. "That's just the statistics for ya."

"Statistics," Shinji spat. "And what happens when they go to the hospital? Who takes care of them then?"

"Whatever shitty HMO the cops can get rid of them with. They end up in some run-down joint where they're probably more likely to get sick than better. If they're lucky they stay comatose for long enough on the morphine that they don't re-break anything when they sneak out and back to their pusher for another fix of meth." Touji sighed. "Kids like this, Shinji, nobody gives a fuck about them. That's why they do shit like rob people in the first place."

"What the fuck is wrong with this place?" he asked, looking around at shop windows filled with thousand-dollar hand bags, diamond-crusted shoes, and parked BMWs. Looking around at seas of well-tanned faces, either staring back at him or bored and off to their business again. Looking back at the arcade, still full of kids these thugs' age dumping $50s and $100s at the pool tables and videogames.

"Hey man, welcome to America! Land of the free, home of the brave baby," Touji muttered.

_Disgusting._

That's when the police car came cruising down the street, lights flashing and siren off. It pulled to a stop and an overweight thirty-something with a mustache and a crew cut greeted Touji and he with guns drawn. His partner did the same.

"Hands on your head! Do not move!"

Touji and he looked at each other, shrugged and did as they were told—no point in taking your chances with another moron with a gun, Shinji decided. The officer continued shouting his orders, ignoring their nonchalant attitudes.

"Now walk slowly towards me and the vehicle! No sudden moves."

Shinji chuckled to himself as he winked at Rei and Asuka. Asuka blew air at her bangs, rolling her eyes while Rei nodded.

When they stopped in front of the hood of the shiny new cruiser, Hikari came to life.

"Officer those two saved me, they—"

"Ma'am please don't distract me. This is for your own safety," he commanded, holding an index finger in the air and keeping his eyes aimed at Shinji. Shinji glared right back at him.

Touji grumbled something under his breath about "these fucking pigs" just quietly enough to not get their attention.

The younger partner approached and cuffed the two of them and neither resisted. The other man radioed in something about the "muggers in custody" from behind the dash board of the cruiser. Before Shinji could say otherwise, a certain redhead snapped into action.

"Hey assholes!" Mr. mustache was turning, face flushed and furious. "Did you ever notice the three dudes on the ground in skimasks or were you too busy having your little ego trip?"

He watched the man freeze in his anger, swear something to himself under his breath and step past Shinji, Touji, and his dumbfounded partner. He swore louder when he got closer to the three knocked out boys in street clothes. Hesitantly, his partner called back to him.

"Should I uncuff them?"

"No you should not!" he whined, reaching down and fumbling with them one by one. "These kids are really beat up. Were going to have to question those two at least."

"There's a gun right by that one's feet! Are you retarded?" Shinji was surprised to hear Hikari's voice, not Asuka's this time. Touji was grinning ear to ear, enjoying the show. "They were trying to mug me. My... boyfriend and, and that guy," she said, jabbing a finger at the two of them, "rescued me, okay? Get it?"

"That true? You her boyfriend?" the partner said, cocking an eyebrow.

"The one and only, officer," Touji replied, playing up the lie in true Envoy fashion. No, better than Envoy fashion even. Shinji wondered just what his history was with the girl.

"Cam, I think they're telling the truth," the partner called back at the mustache.

"John, you just do me a favor and leave the detective work up to me okay? Good. And put those two in the back of the cruiser."

"Does he always treat you like this," Shinji whispered totally innocent at the thoroughly annoyed partner.

"You can't do that, you know. He's got diplomatic tags on his passport," Asuka interrupted.

"I'm afraid she's right officers." A very handsome blond man was walking up to the cruiser now. Where he'd come from Shinji could honestly not recall. It bothered him, itching a little Envoy paranoia scratch. He flashed a beaming smile.

"And just who the fuck are you?" the mustache roared, striding back to the police car.

The man whipped out a wallet in a very practiced gesture, revealing three big, blue capital letters on the inside.

F. B. I.

_Misato's going to hear about this._

"I'm with the Bureau. These are the children of some very important diplomats. I was taking care of them but I had to go make a phone call. I was on my back when Claudia called me and told me some street boys were trying to mug them." Asuka snickered at the name when he gestured in her direction. "Thanks so much for intervening officers, I got here as soon as I could. I'm sure we understand each other now, don't we?"

Mustache switched his glower back and forth between the two of them and the agent. He sighed, defeated.

"Yeah, we understand. Let 'em go, John."

Shinji and Touji were not even out of the handcuffs before Asuka had sprinted into the agent's arms, practically knocking him over as she sobbed melo-dramatically. Touji almost, _almost_, started laughing right there.

"Oh, Francis,"—_Payback's a _bitch—"thank God you came back! They had guns and we were so scared. If Ferdinand and Huxtable"—_Now that was totally uncalled for_—"hadn't been here to protect us, oh, I just don't know what we would have done!" she moaned.

The agent made and awkward smile, slowly clasping her in his arms and making a "rich kids, what are you gonna do?" face at the partner taken aback by Asuka's emotional one-eighty.

He took the five of them down the street and away from the two bewildered cops while Asuka clasped his hand firmly and visibly enough that he could not risk letting go. When they were safely away he stopped.

"Alright, you've had your fun," he said, pulling his hand free.

"What the fuck kind of name is Claudia?" Asuka guffawed, ignoring her quite obvious German heritage for the moment.

He frowned at the five of them, ignoring her. Then he put a finger to his ear and his lips started moving. Sloppy sub-vocaling. But he probably had no idea who they were or how every Envoy was taught lip-reading.

Shinji read it easily. _"The van's on fire, you said? I'll be right there."_

He looked at them hard for a moment, then relented.

"No more trouble today, alright? Now get out of here. Scram." He walked across the street and disappeared into the crowd without another word. Shinji found himself losing track of him much sooner than he'd expect to. The Envoy itch tingled again.

"What was that all about? Are you guys really diplomats?" Hikari mumbled, lost again.

"Shh, it's a secret," Asuka said, winking at her.

"Please don't tell anyone. Only the school knows of our status here in the country," Rei continued.

"Oh, that reminds me," the sprightly girl said, suddenly turning on Rei.

She grabbed her into a hug, one which Rei very much did not return. The crimson eyes leered sideways at the other girl, looking trapped, perhaps even desperate, like a drowning fish. Hikari squeezed her a little harder.

"Thanks for saving me," Hikari gushed.

"Looks like someone has got a new friend!" Asuka whispered to Shinji, smirking at him.

"Can you let go now? Please?" Rei said finally.

Hikari giggled and squeezed her hand once.

"How else am I supposed to thank you?"

"Thanks is not—"

"What about me?" Touji complained, puffing out his chest. She grabbed the side of his face and kissed him once on the lips before he could react. Then he was busy blushing.

"—necessary."

"Oh shoot, I've gotta get back home before my sisters freak out! It's been a great... well, a weird day. Touji, call me!"

And she took off running down the street.

"Okay. I'll do that," Touji said after he'd recovered and her galloping backside was much too far away to hear him.

"Looks like Huxtable has a girlfriend," Asuka teased.

"You mean I'm Ferdinand? Come _on_!" Shinji whined.

"I think Ferdinand is a pleasant name," Rei announced.

The three of them laughed. Rei's smile, just the barest curving of the lips, lingered for a few moments in the midday California sun.

_Rei is telling jokes now? A weird day is right. Still, it could have been worse._

* * *

"I don't know if we have any other options. The UN is putting pressure on our inspectors to withdraw. Most of Europe has already informally delegated the investigation to the Japanese."

Admiral Turner adjusted his collar with one hand, irritation glazing over his mild face.

"To the Japanese? When they know they are responsible?"

"Everyone is pretending that they aren't. For right now at least. The drink may have been knocked over, the carpet may be stained, but no one is admitting they saw whose elbow it was." The other man's tone held an annoyed amusement with the bureaucracy.

"This is ridiculous. We practically already have the signed orders from the Prime Minister himself to bomb the damn city and they're just going to hand over the whole investigation? I can't believe we are willingly going to let them get away with murdering those people. Thirty _million_ dead. If the UN can't prosecute this, why the hell does it even exist?"

The spy grunted behind steepled fingers.

"Careful where you're going with that one, Turner. I don't think I need to remind you what fleet you're supposed to be in command of," he warned.

The admiral shifted in his chair, seeming to disregard the threat entirely.

"This barbarism is unacceptable. We both lived through the floods and I have no intention of doing so again. We have within our grasp those who are responsible. Now is the time to send a message to them and to the rest of the world." His stare remained intense and fixed on the other, held still in anticipation.

"That's why we haven't removed our inspectors yet. Look, you've made your point. Hell, I agree with you. But we've been getting pressure from our allies to let this one sit. Plus it's no big secret who they were aiming to blow up. And they sacrificed one of the biggest cities in the world to do it. How afraid would they have to be to do something that drastic—that obviously stupid? How nervous do you think that makes everyone around here, especially with that branch on the west coast? China is getting protests every day now to have their branch shut down like Germany's was. What the hell was NERV hiding under there that was so scary the Japanese were chomping at the bit just to blow them up and then send in half their own army to make sure the job was done?"

He stared out into the darkness of the sea before and aimed at the vessel he knew contained the answers. The one secretly loaned to NERV.

"Yes I suppose that would be of concern. Of course we forget that NERV also gave us most of the clues to work on investigating the parliament. Clues without which we would be much farther away from any firm conclusion on the bombing."

"Well that doesn't change the fact that the defense contractors are practically foaming at the mouth to figure out what sort of weapon created the second blast and start on a prototype." An ugliness hovered in his colleague's eyes as he spoke. "The DOD have re-labeled this as priority one for us Langley boys; the investigation of the N2 attack is practically an afterthought at this point."

"Don't you have R&D people for that sort of thing? Besides, you know I won't let that weapon be reproduced. I cannot." Something heavy drifted into the old man's gaze. Memories of a time and place etched into the deepest wrinkles of his face. Memories of burning children and flooded cities. And what it took to survive in those times.

The man in the screen across from him stroked at his red beard thoughtfully then nodded.

"I concur. We have enough ways of destroying ourselves and I don't intend on finding any more. And I do want to catch the bastards that did this, Japanese or otherwise. Keep the inspectors in the know and keep them pushing for answers. If we get enough evidence the UN will have no choice but to get to the bottom of this. I'll try and keep the DOD's investigation stalled on my end of things. Any ideas on where I should not be looking?"

"NERV. Anything and everything surrounding them."

"That's a hell of a big bull's-eye to try and miss."

There was something fierce about the navel officer as he shifted in his chair, something dangerous in his taught lips.

"Yes. They seem to be at the crux of this, Alfred. And perhaps your daughter as well, I fear."

"I know, James. I'm keeping one eye open." The spy paused, contemplating some part of that thought. "It may have been inevitable. This mess."

"This mess," the older man agreed.

The picture disappeared into black as the link cut off leaving only the ghostly glow of the moon reflecting off the imperfect mirror of water stretching into darkness. The admiral watched its surface shift from beyond the helm of the largest military vessel the world had ever built. Watched and planned for what he was certain would come.

_Eight Fin_

* * *

A/N: This chapter was gravy once I figured out how to have the mugging play out. I hope you don't mind the flash back. I think it might have dragged a little more than I wanted it to but I'm trying to weave in how we got to Chapter One and it turns out, based on the scope of this thing, I'm gonna need a fuck-ton of weaving to get there.

So. Exciting? Interesting? Confusing? I made another blundering stab with humor here. I figured it lightened up the middle nicely. Next chapter will explain a little more what happened towards the end there as well.

It's that time again. If you're at all confused about how we got here, I would suggest re-reading Five through Eight. They explain almost exactly what's going on here plus a little bit of what's to come if you collect your clues properly. ;)

Gosh I could almost put this under mystery, couldn't I? Haha. This chapter might have been a little confusing in terms of what language was being spoken by the children. That's mostly because it wouldn't really matter one way or the other. It will only be explicit when it's necessary to understand another character being out of the loop.

I like the violence here. Real and to the point. Expect more of that soon_ish_. Oh yes, and there will be blood. evil laugh

Oh by the way, my readers rock the heezy for sheezy. You guys are the coolest! A little reassurances now. More Rei, I promise! I like Rei! No really! What's Operation 176? I ain't tellin'! I'm glad you guys pay attention to the little things though. I've gotten a few critiques about Tatsuki-sensei being very un-sensei-ish. Keep in mind his Envoy training was pretty much abandoned. Other than that, I will explain. It's coming. Trust me! Also, I won't pretend I can match the original candor of Anno—I'm not him, I'm not depressed, I'm actually quite upbeat. What I can promise is that the tone of this story will become more similar to the series as time goes on (more action, more psychology, more emotional insanity).

Japanese lesson for this chapter:

-"daijoubu" means pretty much "okay" as in, are you okay, is everything okay, is it okay if I do this, etc. We can assume Shinji's usage here is more out of habit than intended purpose because what he asks is quite easily translatable as "are you okay?"

-if you somehow did not know, "hai" means yes. "hai, hai" can be taken as a much more idiomatic expression based on tone to be something like "okay I'll do it," "no problem," or even "right away." This is all inferred by context and tone of voice but translating it as simply "yes, yes" would be pretty inappropriate.

You'll be seeing more of me soon. Thanks for reading. Tell your friends!


	9. Impede Succeed

**Neon Genesis Evangelion**

**A Thousand Years of Secrecy**

Disclaimer: I own neither Evangelion nor Altered Carbon (or any other book in the Takeshi Kovachs series). If either Gainax or Mr. Morgan have an issue with any of the content presented, please contact me by e-mail to remove it.

* * *

**Nine – **_Impede / Succeed_

"_The spear of Longinus, set ablaze with the vengeance of its victim. There is no Roman shield great enough to bear it."_

"Murakami-san." It wasn't so much that she wasn't happy to see her.

"Good afternoon, Misato-san." Envoys never took the time to call each other for the purpose of regaling their days in the dojo together. They never made idle conversation with each other. Not the way the children did. Not the way she could do with Fuyutsuki. Or Kaji. For two very different reasons. But whenever Ai Murakami, or any of the council, would call her, something was up. Something unpleasant. It was that way with all of the council.

"I trust things are going smoothly in San Francisco." The longer it took for the real conversation to start, the more threatening or dangerous the news. It's sort of like an unwritten rule between all of them. Like when a doctor says "you should sit down for this." That was the purpose of this preamble. Misato knew it. Ai knew it. Kaji, who was pretending to look out of the blinds of her bedroom window, knew it.

"Very smoothly, Ai. How is China treating yourself?"

"The same as always. Like a foreigner, not that I need the last name to remind me. Or the dirty looks. I see Kaji's still just as fidgety as ever," she replied sardonic, her vision turning from the center of the screen, one so vivid that almost looks as if she was inside the room with them, looking directly at him.

He ran a hand over his stubble and made an awkward smile. He was already familiar this routine. Some say he might have even been the one to start it. But Kaji was always the sociable one.

"Looks like you haven't changed either Ai, it's been... what now, a—"

"A little over a year. Not that you've forgotten." Her eyes stayed placid as did her tone.

"Fuyutsuki told me to reach you as soon as possible." Misato felt herself holding her breath. "The China branch is being officially shut down. We've still got enough favors and bribes to make things... safe, hopefully." She could feel Kaji over her shoulder focusing on their fellow Envoy, imagining the conditioning jumping around in his tactical mind and recalculating NERV's situation. Globally diminished, whatever it might be now.

"Before we begin destroying everything here, I'm supposed to hand over any information regarding Russia. Fuyutsuki has some suspicions about their troop movements in Siberia and around the arctic. It's nothing too obvious from what we've gathered from our sources here, which would make it all the more strange on Russia's behalf. They're usually pretty brazen with their posturing."

Kaji was by her side; all previous good humor had vanished. He could sense something wrong as well.

"The west coast is within striking distance of seventy-five percent of their inter-continental platforms. You don't think we have another Tokyo-3 shaping up here, do you?" he asked quietly.

"No. Not from what we've gathered anyways. I'll send you our last fifteen years of official and unofficial troop movements from around the Arctic Circle. MAGI analysis is currently leaning in favor of a coordinated aerial assault with a target size reaching as far in as Mt. Sinai."

"With the US having four times as many planes not to mention a ten-year advantage on the technological curve for all their aeronautic systems? Nobody is going to try zipping over all of Alasaka and the North Pole with those kind of odds. I don't think so, Ai." Misato shook her head.

"Neither do we. It's still a mystery at this point. The most obvious target of opportunity is the US branch of course. But, unless our snow-covered friends have done something really revolutionary with their depth charges in the last three months there is no way they could even begin to come close to endangering the facility. Especially given the number of fighters the US could scramble in time."

"Of course. Submarines are clearly the major threat to the Alcatraz facility. So just what does that leave exactly? In terms of targets," Kaji asked, Envoy skepticism and intuition thrumming in his tone.

"Well, you guys, pretty much. The only exposed target SEELE would have any real interest in."

Misato had assumed it was coming but the answer still stung. She bit back on the fear she felt growing within her. Not fear for her own life—the conditioning would never allow for that kind of response out of an Envoy—it was fear for the children. Parental instincts and all.

"A cruise missile would be intercepted by the US and NERV's combined safe watch systems before it's a third of the way over the Pacific," Kaji continued through her silence.

"Which leaves some sort of special operation sortie as the most probable solution. We think. For now, anyways. But that doesn't really match up with the figures the MAGI are giving us. The scale is all wrong. No sub-orbital shuttles fast enough, nothing plainly stealth enough to even attempt something."

"Hmm, so what's the good news exactly?" Kaji said, trying to lighten the mood.

Ai made a guttural laugh that didn't intend to sound amused.

"The good news is that I'm getting the fuck out of Shanghai and re-assigned somewhere that people won't bitch at me for speaking their language _too_ well."

Kaji's smile returned, less enthusiastic.

"Anyways, the data will be coming to your unit through the MAGI once we're done here. Don't bother calling HQ back. All of the incoming circuits will be burned or cut by the time we've sent you everything. You can reach me on my personal unit instead if you have any questions."

"Wow, they're getting you out of there in a hurry, huh?"

"Fuyutsuki's orders. China's bureaucracy has started to become more of a burden than a blessing if you catch my drift."

"Money talks, eh?"

"Not ours any more. I suppose were done here?"

"Yeah, good seeing you, Murakami."

"You wish. Good luck."

An Envoy joke. Misato played out the answer Fuyutsuki had drilled into them in training.

"Luck never was part of the equation."

"Nope. Bye now."

Her face had not even finished fading from the screen when the MAGI began generating their encryption keys.

"Well, it couldn't last forever I suppose," Kaji sighed.

"What couldn't?"

"Our network. The one thing Germany taught me. People are stupid enough to be scared of the power they can see and touch, not the invisible one."

"What was it like living there, Kaj'?" She said, suddenly growing curious.

He turned into a stance that resembled someone perhaps just barely caught off guard, assuming such things were possible in an Envoy conversation.

"In Germany? There's nothing like being afraid you're going to die every day for six years to make you really appreciate life. If SEELE hadn't been so busy trying to bust Fuyutsuki's balls everywhere else on the globe, I'm sure it could have been worse."

"Liar. You weren't scared for your own life..." Parental instincts and all.

"She's a good kid, Misato-chan. She's had a bad life but, she's a really, really good kid." He sounded faintly sad and happy too. It was the sort of tone of voice she missed from him, the one always covered up in bravado and a carefree attitude. Covered up with all the other nasty life experience they both had accrued by now.

"There goes that sensei-student attachment," she didn't quite accuse. Kaji shrugged in response. "He really always gave you the hardest missions, didn't he, Kaji-san?"

He laughed and pointed at her.

"Not me, Misato. There was always someone a little more capable on the council to take care of those."

"Still, I wasn't practically camping out in SEELE's back yard—"

"I was talking about Shinji-kun," he said, darkening.

"I know." She looked very tired in that moment. "I know you were."

* * *

"So is she your girlfriend or what?" 

"Well... it's, uh, complicated."

"Uh-oh. Another man? Want me to take care of him for you?" Shinji cracked his knuckles.

Touji chuckled and muttered something slangy sounding under his breath.

"No, it's nothing like that. Just. Bad timing, I guess." He was brooding again. The way he'd first been when Shinji started this line of questioning.

"Don't tell me she said she wasn't ready for a boyfriend. You guys are graduating next year."

Shinji aimed a nice wad of spit and snot at the roof of the deli across the street.

"You've got it mixed up. I'm the one who wasn't ready." Direct hit. Sort of.

Now it was Shinji's turn to laugh.

"You mean she asked you and you shot her down? Come on, Touji, she's cute and judging by the look on your face today I'd say you agree."

Touji colored a little and looked away into the sunlight to hide it.

"Well. I asked her a little over a week ago. And then like two days later..." Tears brimming in the eyes, twinkling in sunlight.

And then two days later Tokyo-3 happened and Touji's sister, his only surviving relative after the floods, disappeared with thirty million other people; and she was gone. Not just "across an ocean" gone, not just "in another country" gone, permanently so. _Nice work there, Shinji_.

"Oh. Fuck. Dude I'm sorry. You should have just told me to shut up."

"No, I'll." He drew in breath sharply, knuckles whitening as he tightened his grip on the railing. "I'll be okay."

Shinji waited for him to continue, suddenly finding his feet kicked out from under him in the conversation.

"So it was just, like, awkward timing I guess. I told her I needed some time alone and that it wasn't that I didn't want to date her I just... I just needed to work some things out, I guess. Anyways, we hadn't really seen each other at all since today so."

"So she was trying to remind you why you asked her in the first place." He winked at his roommate, happy to see him positive again.

Touji looked away, reddening swiftly again. "Yeah, something like that."

"Look at you! Who woulda thought mister martial arts guy is really a softie!" He nudged him good-naturedly.

"Hey shut up! Geek!" he laughed back at him.

"Geek? Geeks ride motorcycles now? Besides, Asuka's the computer whiz."

"One more word from either of you and we find out what you look like thirty floors down. Dinner."

The red bangs flew back inside as the glass doors slid shut silently, the same as they'd opened.

"It's like ESP or something, I swear," Touji pondered.

"I know. It's hard enough to get a word in edgewise with her."

"So what about you and her? Or is it Rei you fancy? You seem quiet enough."

"Touji..." He was rolling his eyes trying to pretend the question did not bring up complicated feelings swirling around with teenage hormones. But it did.

"What?" he asked innocently enough. "Do opposites attract?" He grinned.

"I could tell you..."

"But you'd have to kill me?"

"Something like that." Shinji laughed with him and ran a hand through his hair as they made their way back inside and back to dinner.

* * *

Dinner was quiet. The sun was dipping through their kitchen's slatted shuttered, pulling its light from one gap to the next; it was a calming effect, painting shaded lines across each of their faces as the meal progressed in silence. Asuka seemed agitated, stirring food around her plate. Kaji chewed hard, jaw muscles clenching around each bite as his eyes drifted up at the slow spin of the ceiling fan. Rei was somewhere that was certainly not the dinner table even though she remained seated beside them. 

"So we heard you had a little run in with the FBI today."

_Fuck. I forgot to tell her._

All four of the children stopped eating. Kaji crunched a little more merrily, glad to see someone else in the hot seat for a change.

"Misato, I... forgot."

Her eyes flashed towards him then away to the rest of them.

"I can see that." The anger had not disappeared. "They've been tailing you ever since we entered the country. Home land security has you all on their watch list, red flagged and all."

"And what about you? How are we the fucking threat?" Asuka fumed.

"Language," Kaji reminded.

"We're on there too. We've already had a run in with one of their higher-ups." She looked over at Kaji momentarily. "And no, I'm not telling you any more than that."

"I suspected a possible two or three units using chameleoflage in the tree branches above us. These were part of the FBI's surveillance team?" Rei interjected.

Shinji blinked at her and turned to his sensei for confirmation. He hadn't noticed.

"Correct," Misato continued. "Which makes your conduct unacceptable Rei. The attacks you used were upper-echelon Envoy techniques, not to be performed within the public sphere and certainly not while being watched."

"But there was an innocent citizen being threatened," Touji protested. She turned to him with a mix of something malignant and determined in her eyes.

"Irrelevant. Your priorities here are maintaining your own cover and survival. Everyone else comes secondary to that."

"Understood," Rei replied in the same whispery tone she used with all direct orders and most casual conversation.

Touji slammed is fork down into the plate and crossed his arms. Asuka looked ready to do the same.

"As for you, Mr. Suzuhara. You compromised the name of our enemy and a cherished secret of NERV which, without our intervention—" _The burning surveillance van. So that's why he let us go. _ "—would have most certainly headed straight to Langley and then to the top of the US government, getting us all arrested in the process."

Touji's open mouth clamped shut. He made a face as if he were wrestling his tongue into submission.

"Both of these actions were unacceptable and both will be punished as I see fit."

Rei nodded. Touji did not.

"Of course, thanks to your newfound lodgings, you do have the option of sharing your punishment with your roommate if they agree to help you." Touji and he exchanged glances. "I can't say either of them will be easy."

Her eyes locked onto Kaji's. They placed their utensils down slowly and carefully and headed towards her bedroom.

"Rei and Touji. Do the dishes. When Kaji and I are finished taking care of this we'll be back and explain the punishments in full."

Asuka shrugged her shoulders at Shinji's confused gaze and even Rei appeared to have her head cocked to one side as the two of them disappeared into the other room.

"Bad news?" Touji asked of the quiet kitchen what they'd all been thinking.

* * *

From the deck of a UN cruiser the way one tends to look at the world begins to shift subtly. It's the only united force for peace and prosperity since the disastrous flooding years, so far gone from its original iteration that why they kept the name remains as an odd mystery to any historical observer. Gone are the politicians and corrupt ambassadors, wallowing in their greed and diplomacy games. Instead they have been replaced by a handful of nations who think they know what to do with the rest of the world and have the guns to back it up. 

It was only a portion of the fleet laid out before his eyes and yet the sight was still majestic, militarily speaking. Cannons, missiles, aircraft and covering all surfaces like too many symmetrical barnacles on the sleek gray hulls. The joint-strike fighters perched on the biggest gray monsters like so many tiny misshapen diamonds on a playing card. Arrays of spinning radar and lidar dishes as far as the eye could perceive and grumbling whir of nuclear-powered engines beneath it all, the ever-present reminder to the UN's most effective and terrifying peacekeeper in the twenty first century: the N2 Mine.

The UN was simply not the same entity it had been in the twentieth century. A different world called for a different sort of united front. One that was armed to the teeth with little to no bureaucracy for using such methods. America, Germany, China, Russia, the UK, Spain, Brazil and handful of others with enough unflooded territory and GDP to participate called the shots now. Micronesia's votes were most firmly out of the picture not to mention it was submerged with most of the South Pacific. Japan had somehow found its way into this elite few, governed by principals set forth in the aftermath of what some called the Third World War and others simply called the darker days.

The mandate was worded clearly enough: any country, part of the UN or not, who attempts to subjugate another through military or economic means will be invaded until suitable replacement leadership has been found. Any country caught developing nuclear means other than those accepted into the UN already will be annihilated in a N2 salvo of apocalyptic proportions. And any country caught using N2 weapons outside of this mandate will face a similar fate.

SEELE had gotten Japan into an extremely tricky situation and the first instance of mandate part three. The Japanese government was already facing the consequences, this much Fuyutsuki knew. What remained to be seen was whether or not the UN would follow through on their swift retribution pact. Thirty million dead, a number that would have seemed typical during the floods, was quickly becoming an outrage in the post-flood world.

China was absolutely livid, proclaiming that if the psychopaths running the Japanese government could nuke one of their own cities, their _largest_ city, there was nothing to stop them from jumping the sliver of water between the two countries. Other members of the UN remained more cautious with the US, still after all this time, Japan's closest and staunchest ally in the face of the accusations.

It was nonetheless a pickle for the UN to be in. Now was the first test of their post-flood rule set and it was someone other than a few meddling terrorists or the rogue eastern Europe state; both had not needed a full N2 demonstration to bring them into line. But Japan. It was Japan's esteemed status within the UN that posed the biggest problem—these were, after all, the nations which were supposed to be civilized enough to not do things like this.

He'd seen it in Turner's eyes as they'd spoken on the bridge of the largest sea-going vessel the world had ever seen; he'd seen the doubt, doubt in a system that was supposed to stop things like Tokyo-3 from ever happening. At the minimum, he suspected, Turner would want some sort of regime change and a war crimes trial of those responsible in the Diet. It would jive well with the whole "enlightened nations" theme of the UN and still make it look like they were getting the job done.

But if SEELE had any sort of wits about them, they would prevent such measures at all cost; trying to re-infiltrate Japan's parliament for a second time would take far too long for their taste and leave Fuyutsuki an open window back into the nation—two problems that would prevent them from allowing such a trial, even at the expense of the UN's credibility. As long as people continued to believe it was some bureaucracy preventing the UN from action rather than some much more conspiratorial power, SEELE would be content. And if they could find a way to pin the attacks on NERV, he suspected Chairman Keele would be nearly dancing with his good fortune.

The biggest unknown for SEELE and NERV in this equation was Turner. Because the Admiral had a tendency of not playing by the rules. Fuyutsuki liked to think that, coming from the same generation, they shared some common bond. But reality was not so simple. Turner had never seen the floods coming long before they hit and he certainly was not aware of SEELE's existence yet. It would have to be seen whether or not he would play into NERV's hand or against it but, his wildcard factor would be enough to at least slow down some of SEELE's damage control measures.

Unfortunately there were only two viable branches of NERV left to work with. A few minutes ago there'd been three. But Fuyutsuki had apparently struck a nerve with SEELE or the Russians or some combination of the two. With countries as corrupted as Russia and China it was hard to tell the difference between what was their own initiative and what was SEELE's.

"Structural integrity is heavily diminished. The north-eastern block has already had one full collapse and the south-eastern block is tagged as extremely volatile by the MAGI," Aoba read aloud to him. He turned awaiting further instructions.

"Keep monitoring the structure and give me an update of anything else important happens. Ibuki?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Locate the orbital platform we have over the China branch and run the startup routine for a fire lance."

"Yes, sir."

Ritsuko scribbled something vigorously on her tablet, speaking to him as she wrote. "MAGI shows preliminary reports stating a terrorist attack on the building blocks. They are still being acknowledged as apartment buildings at this time. Russia's weapons platform on the western border has not been fingered although there's little way the Chinese could not know it was them."

Fuyutsuki had something like a smile curling at the corners of his mouth. "SEELE will make them play nice, I'm sure."

"MAGI has identified 742 individual heat signatures so far within the building that are not burning equipment. Sixty percent of them are still moving."

Fuyutsuki sighed.

"Only the relevant data, please Doctor Akagi."

"Orbital platform seventeen is passing over our Shanghai window in two minutes with the lance ready and prepped to ignite," Maya broke in. Her tone was colorless but Fuyutsuki could see otherwise in her eyes.

"Good. Have one of our beekeepers in the surrounding neighborhood release a few colonies post-detonation to make sure nothing usable is left over."

Ritsuko turned from the tablet in hand. "You're going to have to tell her at some point. She and Murakami were just on the phone together."

"I know. Have the MAGI recover whatever is left of the data stream between their units, working backwards from the last known encrypt key. I'll be in my chambers. Don't disturb me unless the situation changes. You have my permission to release the lance when it is capable."

"Sempai, I..."

"Don't worry, Maya. I'll do it."

He could hear the girl whisper some small thank you to herself as he swept out of the command deck.

* * *

"It exploded. It and the surrounding three city blocks." 

Silence on the other end.

"The Chinese are proclaiming it the terror tactics of a religious cult or several. As far as the public is concerned, they won't ever know the building was there until the government tells them or shoots them into not protesting about it anymore."

"Murakami is..."

"Most likely lost along with the rest of our China team. If SEELE did it through the Russians like we are assuming, they'll have done it in such a way to preserve the inner workings probably for the purposes of retrieving the best bits. We are taking care of that as we speak."

"You're bombing it again."

"A stealthed orbital relay has already launched the necessary munitions. China won't see it flying in of course and even if they know we did it they're unlikely to point the finger at anyone other than the cult."

"And what about our personnel down there? What about Murakami or Alexei?"

"You would have them be interrogated and disappear into the hands of SEELE to face an even worse and far less instantaneous death? You know what else is inside those buildings. Envoys _do_ leave a man behind and they always kill him if they do. That's a cardinal rule; as sub-commander and a council member, I would have expected you to understand that."

She swallowed. In other words, he was saying to keep her compassion in check.

"What happened?" Kaji whispered, grin entirely missing.

"We're not sure. We had bribed all the proper officials for a safe pull out but something must have triggered SEELE into acting. Most likely, something Murakami was sending you."

"The reports from the Arctic Circle."

"Whatever was in those histories, SEELE is making damn sure we don't have them. They're doing something with the Russians now, that much is clear. Without those records, however, we're flying in the dark."

"And the only surviving copies..."

"Are about to be dust in a little under two minutes. I don't have time to shift other operatives to your position with China to clean up. For the time being you will have to work with the Second Branch."

"Even if our NSA man is correct about them?"

"We cannot confirm or deny that. Use what you can from the local branch but don't get so involved that they learn something they can use to hurt you."

"And the Russians?"

"We will deal with them when they come."

"You're certain we're the target then."

"It's the only thing I'm convinced about. I'll see what else I can have the MAGI retrieve from the transmission to get you as up to date as possible. Take whatever records you have and bring them to the nearest server bank. MAGI already has a few dummy companies picked out we control. Copy them to a couple locations across the country. Then start looking at what you have and report back to me tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"I want you to sleep on it. This Russian situation has changed too quickly to have a firm grip on it in just a few hours."

* * *

"Where are you going?" Asuka demanded. 

"To a bar. Or several," Kaji replied, eyes refusing to meet hers.

"Why?" It was Rei now, perplexed.

"Because we really need a drink," Misato answered.

"Or several," Kaji added.

"You're just going to... leave us here?" Touji sounded unsure about being happy. Their senseis' faces did little to reassure him.

"It's Saturday night. Go out. Have fun. Be teenagers," Misato reminded, shuffling through the kitchen cabinets with an unusual haste.

"What about our punishment?" Touji continued. Asuka snarled under her breath in German and looked as if she might nearly lodge her fork in his throat. Nearly.

"You're off the hook," Kaji answered, slipping on his shoes at the front door.

"For now," Misato reminded.

Then they were gone. And the four children were left staring at each other.

"Well, that was weird," Shinji remarked after a few beats of silence.

"Agreed." Rei's face looked as if she might have seen an alien. Which was to say she was squinting slightly at the front door.

"What do you think that was all about?" Touji pondered, stirring his fork around his plate. The two senseis hadn't even moved their dishes from the table.

"Beats me. I've never seen Kaji look so... well, serious, I guess," Asuka answered, looking away into the San Francisco night. Something on her face made Shinji think she was remembering a time before when Kaji _had_ looked that serious. And something made him feel uneasy watching her with that expression.

"Well, Misato does drink a lot," Shinji tried; it didn't quite lighten the mood.

"Fuck it. Let's get smashed," Asuka proclaimed, rising from her seat.

"Do you have a fake?" Touji inquired.

"No, but I do have a fridge full of beer and a cabinet full of licquor," she replied, yanking both open for dramatic effect. Misato _did_ drink a lot. A whole lot.

"Wow," Rei said, voicing what their gaping mouths were saying.

"What, you guys didn't know about this stuff?" Asuka laughed, winking at Shinji.

"Asuka. There's enough alcohol in their to get us drunk for a month."

"Maybe for you lightweights," she said, jabbing her finger at them. "But we Germans grew up on beer! I've been drinking legally for two full years already. Here, let me show you guys how to make a Manhattan."

Warning lights were flashing in Shinji's head. Some mix of Envoy prescience and the oddity of the day so far, telling him that this was not the time or the place to be getting drunk. _Not with all the weird sexual tension I feel creeping into my spine when Asuka looks at me like that. Not with the way Misato's face looked when she'd gone flying out the door. Not with the... no, fuck it._

Asuka was already deciding what drinks they'd be having.

"Touji, you look like a screwdriver man to me. Rei, we'll start you off with a Sex on the Beach. Shinji... hmm." He felt like the antelope on the Serengeti. Back when antelopes and lions had lived there anyways. "We'll try a Margarita for you."

"And what are you having, Asuka?" he asked to the mischievous gleam of her eyes as she arranged glasses and other instruments on the counter before her.

"Tequila. Straight up."

Some part of him gulped at the riling tension flying up his spine again.

_Nine Fin_

* * *

A/N: Massively late. Apologies, blah blah. No, truthfully I feel superduper guilty. You see, I'm in love with this story. The more of it I write, the more excited I get. It's just that over the month of May I've been in Tokyo, New York, and Washington DC. I've started working for Congress. And I've started making a movie of Chapter One (I told you I love this story). So when I say I've been busy, I'm not bullshitting you guys. I really have been absurdly busy. But I promise to continue writing this. 

Once again, my readers rock. You guys actually give real reviews which is like a miracle considering most of what I see on FFN. I feel like I've found some gloryhole of smart critics hiding on the site, waiting for good stories. And like I said before, I'm open to all critiques, although I encourage people to read more than the first couple of lines. :P

Anyways, the next chapter will be out "some time" I'm hoping for sooner rather than later but you know how life is. I'd also like to take this time to thank my subconscious, who showed me how to complete this chapter after I asked nicely before I went to sleep. I don't really remember the dream but I like the results.

Japanese lesson for this chapter:

-"senseis" does not exist, except that in English we like to add s to pluralize things. Doing it with foreign words is crossing a fine line but I live dangerously, what can I say.

-I'm about ninety percent sure that, officially speaking, Japan is the US's closest non-english speaking ally. Interesting huh?


	10. Impaired Impossible

**Neon Genesis Evangelion**

**A Thousand Years of Secrecy**

Disclaimer: I own neither Evangelion nor Altered Carbon (or any other book in the Takeshi Kovachs series). If either Gainax or Mr. Morgan have an issue with any of the content presented, please contact me by e-mail to remove it.

* * *

**Ten –**_ Impaired / Impossible_

"_There are signs in the southern ice that Cain came long before Abel and he lay slew not by the hands of angels' judgment but by his own arrogance. 'Eden' he moaned as his breath escaped him, 'is but a fragile garden, beautiful as it is impermanent.'"_

"The FBI have the husk of a million-dollar surveillance van on their hands in San Francisco. No witnesses. No suspects. Officially, anyways."

Fuyutsuki chuckled softly, looking aside for a moment as he pondered the statement.

He tried not to appear as amused as he felt. "Oh dear. And they've sent you to clean up their mess?"

Turner frowned and turned away from him to the windows, not quite embarrassed but not entirely comfortable.

"As the highest ranking American representative in the fleet, the duty was... abdicated to me. I can assure it was not of my own initiative."

Fuyutsuki laughed without being too mirthful and nodded as he turned back to face him.

"I'm sure we can both assume, unofficially of course, who is responsible for this," the admiral continued sternly.

Fuyutsuki ignored the jab, now thoroughly curious; whatever the case may be with the FBI, it was not the reasoned the admiral had summoned him. The man could be perilously transparent in conversation even if he was tactically cunning in combat.

"No one was injured?" he deflected.

"No. Just some equipment and lost data."

Fuyutsuki grunted something and nodded. He'd expected as much from his team. The US was still friendly territory after all. Somewhat friendly, anyways.

"Don't take this as any sort of admission as I've honestly not been contacted regarding this matter previously." He looked at the man across the desk hard then, making the point that he was not lying about his ignorance. "The Second Branch would be more than willing to help the FBI in its continuing counter-terrorism efforts. Financial support could be obtained from private investors if necessary."

Turner disregarded offer with a wave of his hand, eyes still locked on Fuyutsuki. "The security cameras of several storefronts in the vicinity show no one approaching or leaving the van. The explosive device used managed to vaporize itself in the process leaving nothing for the forensics team to work with; only that given the accuracy and containment of the charge, they are sure it was placed on or in the truck, not fired into it."

Fuyutsuki waited, knowing that there must be more.

"The US Government has instructed me to remind you that using chameleoflage within their borders is a violation of the International Espionage Law as mandated by the UN and a punishable offense for any government or organization involved."

"And I suppose they're more than willing to forget we did the most of the proprietary work on those camo systems out of the Antarctic team; that if it wasn't for us, their scientists would still be pouring billions into bending light rather than tricking it," Fuyutsuki responded, feigning disinterest.

"I'm sure the irony of the situation does not escape them," Turner replied coolly; something in his eyes, however, told Fuyutsuki he had not known NERV's involvement in _that_ project. He rubbed at his brow beneath the white uniform's cap slowly, bargaining. "From their perspective, Dr. Fuyutsuki, I'm sure you can tell why they're upset. They certainly don't like two Envoys running amok on the West Coast."

"They are the delegated acting consultants to the Second Branch," he said, playing with diplomacy to rile the real questions out of the quickly darkening admiral.

"Let's not play the 'official story' game, shall we?" He was not quite as menacing as he was annoyed.

"Why did you really bring me here then, if we're skipping the official story and all?" A glimmer of something in the other man's eye as they reached the heart of the matter.

"China."

Fuyutsuki smiled something sly. It was more or less what he had expected.

"Of course. I assume the Americans are aware of the situation?" Actually he knew they were. The MAGI kept a close eye on everyone.

"What the Americans are or aren't aware of does not concern me. It is my _own_ awareness that concerns me at the moment."

"I'm glad to see you have a little more tenacity than your bureaucratic friends."

Turner waited, hands clasped behind his back.

"At least tell me what you know," Fuyutsuki offered.

"We know there were two explosions. The second from orbit using technology NERV only ever test fired for a few times in the Nevada desert as demonstration. We know China seems very unconcerned."

"Perhaps relieved even?" Fuytsuki baited.

"Perhaps." Something twisted in the other man's face as he considered that. "What we don't know is why. And what _I_ want to know is: how much of a target has this fleet become?"

Fuyutsuki smiled something wicked. It wasn't just knowing he had the upper hand; it was the certainty of Turner's motive that reassured him, if only for the time being, that the man could still be of use.

"You are not so much a target as a very well-constructed cage, admiral."

The man blinked, taken off guard. Fuyutsuki pounced on the man's surprise. He would tell him enough. Enough to get him thinking. Enough trouble the tactician's mind.

"I wonder, have you asked yourself yet why, if the Americans could quite clearly see the Russian artillery, the Chinese could not? Have you asked yourself why Russia would even dare to do something so dangerous to its most powerful neighbor? Or why they have done little to attempt to hide it was someone other than them? Have you wondered why, at the very least, China has not used this as a bargaining chip in private discussion with the rest of the UN? I'm sure your superiors are quietly scratching their heads even if they are loathe to admit it."

Turner paled over the following seconds of silence, digesting the implications one by one. Something quivered beneath the tightly controlled mask of his face. Carefully controlled fear. To an Envoy's senses it was clear as day.

"You said I was a cage. For what? Are you implying that I'm keeping you here against your will?" It was some mix of the genuinely curious and an attempt to regain some sort of upper hand in the conversation.

"'A very well-constructed cage,' Admiral. And what do we put in cages?"

He waited a beat, trying to re-engage the brilliance he knew was struggling with the answers and questions Fuyutsuki was offering. Turner looked for a moment as if he might refuse to answer but it passed.

"Animals," he said darkly, returning his gaze to Fuyutsuki's.

"Yes," Fuyutsuki conceded. "And those who cannot or will not uphold the status quo. 'The most dangerous of all the wild animals: the dissenter.' That was Quell by the way. You should look her up some time. Brilliant woman."

They stared at each other for a few moments in silence. Fuyutsuki began to depart, sensing the conversation's end. As he reached the door he paused. "Admiral, there will come a time where decisions will have to be made. I do hope you'll remember this conversation when it comes."

He did not turn to see the admiral's steely-eyed acknowledgment. He did not have to. He already knew it was there as the door slid shut behind him.

* * *

"Asuka, I don't think Misato had this in mind when she said 'go out and be teenagers.'" 

She giggled placing her arm around the boy's neck and leaning in dramatically close to his face.

"Since when did you follow all the rules? Aren't you supposed to be a Quellist?" She tightened her elbow lock causing him to hiccup.

"Yeah, cut loose man," Touji grumbled from the couch, nursing a beer.

Rei sat cross-legged in front of the TV, watching all of them with eyes that did not seem to be the least inebriated.

"Besides, I already hacked the food order to replace anything we're missing by tomorrow, shilly" she slurred, loosening the arm again.

"Well... I guess so," he complied. He'd been saying that a lot tonight, Rei noticed.

Of course, Fuyutsuki's orders had strictly forbid alcohol while undergoing training. Besides the negative physiological effects, it destroyed the Envoy barriers for emotional concealment that were considered thoroughly dangerous even at the most harmless of moments. Now their teaching was unofficially over and for the sake of team-bonding, why she assumed they kept them housed together, it seemed in her best interest to participate from the team-building exercise. It was a roundabout justification, but sometimes Conditioning was better at making excuses than thinking clearly.

"You're awful quiet Rei. You okay?" Touji said through a slackening jaw and half-shut eyelids.

"She always is!" Asuka almost shouted, giddy smile beaming at her cohort. "Right Rei?"

Rei nodded and the three of them sputtered into laughter again. This made her feel happy. Like when she'd spoke about Asuka's fake name for Shinji earlier today. It was nice to make her friends laugh. Friends? Yes, she supposed, they were all friends now. Even Suzuhara-san.

"Rei, tell us a joke," Shinji said from next to, or rather, beneath Asuka.

"Yeah! Tell us another joke, Rei!" Asuka said again. Perhaps no one had heard Shinji the first time? Touji was nodding vigorously, which was to say lethargically, from the couch.

"So a duck walks into a bar..." Rei began. All three of them were already squealing in delight. Rei paused, uncertain. She hadn't gotten to the joke yet. Oh well. There was a tingling somewhere in her inner ear. She found herself oddly enjoying the feeling. A sort of warmth under her skin.

"Rei is so... awesome," Touji said, when the three of them had calmed down again.

"Rei, Rei, tell them about that one time. That time when they made you try out for the volleyball time. The volleyball time, Rei." The words tumbled over each other as they left Shinji's mouth.

"Yeah!" Asuka and Touji shouted, glee in their eyes.

"Okay. One time, a young man named Hattori Kizashi asked me to join the varsity volleyball team."

They were already laughing again. Shinji was trying to tell them, over his own laughter, to "shut up and listen to the story." Rei continued when they had calmed down again.

"After school, Shinji and I went to the gym for the tryouts. I explained that I did not know how to play volleyball. This seemed of little concern to Hattori." More laughter, louder.

"After a few attempts, Hattori showed me how to hit the ball." She put her hands together for emphasis. The three of them stared at her carefully. "But when I could still not hit the ball correctly Hattori instructed me to, I believe it was, 'whack the shit out of it.'" They were laughing again, Asuka trying to articulate something about "the way she says shit" in-between bouts of cackling.

"I punched the ball quite hard. It deflated with a very loud pop and everyone was looking at me, very surprised. Hattori asked me if I could try out for boxing club instead. He did not look very happy. He said that volleyballs were quite expensive."

Touji was pounding his fist against the leather with guffaws. Asuka had spilled her drink over Shinji's head, who did not seem to notice the ice cubes on his head as he roared with laughter. Touji fell off of the couch at the sound of the doorbell which prompted more laughter until the doorbell sounded again.

"Fuck. Fuckfuckfuck." Shinji was up and running for the door, sprinkling ice cubes through the hall. Asuka was attempting to hide their drinks underneath their couch which did not have space for the glasses upright. She turned them sideways, spilling their contents onto the carpet as she rolled them underneath. Touji was struggling to sit up and not achieving it.

"Who is it?" she heard Shinji say unevenly from the hallway.

The sound of the door opening. Unexpected greetings.

The three of them sat staring at each other, listening. Voices responding. Touji, now upright, tried to lean around the corner to spy and fell into the hallway, face first. Asuka slammed a hand across her mouth to hold in the laughter.

"Touji! What the fuck!"

"Hahaha. Are you wasted, dude?"

"Shit, cap's three sheets to the wind!" It was an idiom she didn't recognize.

Loud, young American voices. Raucous. Friendly.

"Touji Suzuhara! Get off that floor!"

A girl's voice this time, faking anger behind heavy laughter.

He tried to get up which involved rolling onto his back, his head lolling sideways to turn to the doorway.

"Washhup, Hika. Hika. Hikari."

The laughter was coming closer with the sounds of Shinji's welcome and playing host.

Someone bent over the crumpled Touji on the floor, brown bangs her concealing her face.

"Silly boys. Think they're so tough."

The face turned up as she began draping one of his arms around her shoulders, eyes lighting up as they saw Rei.

"Oh, hello again!"

"Hikariiii!" Asuka sprung from her position concealing the drinks, bounding up to grab the girl into a hug. This flopped Touji back onto the floor who did not seem to notice so much. He was too busy leering up Hikari's skirt which was, by Rei's standards, extremely short.

"Good evening, Hikari." Rei said. She felt like she was smiling. It was good not to be in trouble. Maybe Asuka had been right. Maybe this was a good idea.

* * *

The bar was right for their age. Misato was practically fighting off men for the first fifteen minutes, much to the amusement of Kaji who'd been quickly inaugurated as "her boyfriend" after she grew tired of the hassle. 

They sat side by side, now into their fifth drink was it? Misato was chatting up the bartender who seemed relieved to have a pretty intelligent face to speak to over the rest of the noise in the place.

Envoys weren't exactly allowed to drink heavily but Fuyutsuki had said sleep on it, which, to he and Misato, meant get drunk on it. Murakami had been a close friend during conditioning, even if they'd grown apart afterwards; it was hard to imagine her gone. Their collective mood was neither joyous nor depressed; both had gotten used to the unfortunate business of losing close friends from the council ever since SEELE had taken the offensive. And perhaps they had all known it would come to this point, Fuyutsuki had practically said is much during some of his more brutally honest moments. In a way it made it a relief to have each other tonight.

After they'd dumped what little they had at the nearest net café, it was off to "Roddy's," which could have been called "Rowdies" given the crowd around them. But it was a Saturday night, and most people didn't have the worries of the world hanging over their weekend.

Misato leaned into his suit's shoulder, brushing fingertips across his back. "So, 'boyfriend.'" She was a mean tease when she wanted to be. "What say, you and me come back to my place?"

Kaji laughed, concealing the unexpected hurt quite deftly.

"Or we could come back to _my_ place."

"Touché."

"Butofcourse."

"Zis bar, eet smells of oui oui." They laughed for moment before the humor drained out of them again.

Kaji winked at her then looked into his glass, feeling the melancholy roused by conversation between them the way it used to be.

"Whatever happened to us, Misato?"

She glared at him.

"We're in a no-serious-conversation-zone, need I remind you?"

He frowned at his tiny shot glass.

"Ah, so that's what happened," he said quietly.

"Kajiiiiii," she whined. "Why do you want to talk about this now? Why?"

"I don't know—because we never do?" He looked away from the dangerous gaze of a twenty-something in black, eating him with her eyeballs from across the crowds.

"Because there's nothing to say. Besides," she sighed, running a hand through the hair above his ponytail. "You and me, we just aren't... compatible."

"Compatible," he spat.

"That's right. It didn't really work then Kaji and it's not like we've changed that much since."

"We had our moments..." he trailed off, smiling fondly at memories of their short-lived couple.

"We certainly did," she said, making a face that recalled moments quite different from the ones Kaji imagined.

"Oh like we were really that bad!" Kaji sighed, spinning his drink on the countertop.

"We weren't... _bad_, just incompatible," she pronounced.

"You know that's not true," he whispered, eyes growing serious.

She made the most beautiful frown. "No mindgames tonight, I'm too tired."

"Conditioning is not a mindgame—"

"It's the most powerful sort of mindgame."

"And it also said nothing about us being incompatible," Kaji finished, satisfied.

"It said we were too compatible, too prone to each other's weaknesses... Why am I even telling you this, you read the report just like me."

"Reports," Kaji muttered. "What do they know? What do they really know about what's inside you and me?"

"Everything," Misato said, trying desperately to kill the conversation before it got any further.

"What can a piece of paper tell you about your heart? Name one thing."

"Kaji, stop it," she said, clawing at the edges of her control. Now was most clearly _not_ the time, and that was why he kept pushing.

"Or maybe you just don't want to look into yours because you're afraid of what's in there," he insinuated, drawing another edgy look.

"What is it with you? Do you think I enjoy playing these little games with you." And he saw tears daring in the corners of her eyes. He felt guilty, knowing that he wanted them to be there. Some part him screamed to reach up and brush them away, revive the smile he loved looking at on that face and replace the hurt but he forced himself to remain motionless.

"No more than I do," he said darkly, waiting. She looked through him in that moment and swallowed, knowing that he was telling the truth; and just who was toying with whom was no longer clear—they were both prodding, searching for those weak spots; subconsciously or otherwise they were both out for blood.

"I—I'm not going to answer that." She killed her drink and looked away from him, angrily searching for somewhere or someone to distract her from him

His drink remained still before him, half-full and waiting, reflections of happy patrons dancing around its curves. His happy-drunk was eluding him, much to his displeasure. Thankfully something amusing walked up to the bar and started hitting on Misato. She was so painfully nice and so painfully uninterested in the young chump. After several repeated offers she gave into the line she'd been giving for some time.

"That's very kind but, this is my boyfriend, actually."

_Now._

Kaji returned their gazes with the practiced ease of a total stranger; an Envoy bluff in full. The angry one seemed delighted at his disinterest, and the inviting one rather annoyed. Misato glared when Mr. Hotshit wasn't looking at her.

"Kaji, don't be coy..." she said, reaching over to touch his arm.

He pulled away. _Let's see how you like it._

"She's all yours kid. Turns out were... _incompatible_."

The hapless fool continued to seduce poorly. And Misato continued, unsuccessfully, to convince him that Kaji was her man. Kaji meanwhile busied himself with ESPN and flirting with the dangerous one in black, occaisionally returning her drawn out glances. He was throwing his eyes around wherever he could but always away from the pair of them.

He half-listened to the despair filling Misato's voice as the jerk refused to get the picture that she was not interested, and Kaji's smile grew fractionally bigger with each exchange.

Then he was being yanked into a kiss, a very passionate one, with the lips of one Misato Katsuragi. And just as suddenly she pulled away. She didn't even return his confused stare but rather slammed some cash down on the bar and yanked him out of his seat by the hand. They brushed past the very disappointed looking suitor without a word between them.

When Misato had finished violently shoving their way outside it was drizzling, and the noise of the bar faded into the echoes of the street. The street lamps illuminated raindrops, stuck falling perpetually in their glow. She whirled on him then, fuming. The rain almost hid the fresh tears.

"Why'd you make me do that!" She was shouting. In Japanese. People stared, shocked at what must have appeared as a couple's dispute.

She was... shouting? _At me?_

"I didn't make you do anything!" He shouted as well, figuring that they must be having a shouting contest.

"You... you jerk! You, big, stupid, jerk! I didn't even _want_ to kiss you!" She batted him on the arm with each word. It hurt. She was a black belt after all.

"Oh like it was really that bad!" He said, swatting her fists away. "You're just mad because that little thing in the corner was giving me the once over."

"What!" she shrieked. "Like I even care! All I was trying to do was get you to be a gentleman for once in your life (like it's even that difficult) and you leave me out to dry! You big! Stupid! Jerkface!" Three more boxes to his shoulder. Kaji reeled away from her.

"Well maybe, I just don't like _pretending_ to be your boyfriend! Okay?" he yelled back.

"Fine!" She crossed her arms.

"Fine!" He did too.

"FINE!"

And they were all over each other. His hands in her hair. Hers up the back of his shirt. The rain misting their faces pressed together. Tumbling and turning, coming up for air and then starting all over again. The alcohol on her breath, flaring in his nostrils mixed with the scent of a woman he'd forgotten missing so much. Feeling her body underneath the wet clothes, pressing up against his and then sweeping away again. The shocked gazes to their sides turned into approving grins.

Whispered apologies and kisses on her neck. She giggled, running fingers underneath the waistband on his back of his pants. Their hands entwined as they both began walking for a hotel. A very, very close hotel.

She paused, turned and faced him, putting a finger to his lips before he could ask.

"Just... tonight, okay?" she pleaded, whispering. She needed this security. This detachment. _Fair enough._

He nodded against the finger and she pressed her lips on to his from behind it.

Yes, alcohol did have a way of creating these... situations in an Envoy relationship.

* * *

There was kissing. He couldn't quite remember how it came to it, but there was kissing. Lots and lots of kissing. 

Rei was demonstrating her aikido to Touji's three understudies who seemed entranced by her grace and expertise. Hikari and Touji had folded themselves into one unit, curled up together on the couch. And somehow... somehow he and Asuka had wound up on the balcony. Somehow what had gone from casual, semi-casual conversation, turned to embrace.

"You are..." he started lost in the azure eyes for a breath. _Impossibly beautiful. The most wonderful thing I've ever seen. Intoxicating._ The words competed for his attention, each one an imperfect pass how utterly... Asuka she was.

He exhaled with a stutter, shaky smile growing in its place.

"I know," she whispered, running a hand down his cheek before finding his lips again. Shinji felt as if he were spinning in his arms. Even the light rain was unnoticeable as he felt her breath plume against his lips. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

That hair. That _hair_, like satin on his fingers, flowing over him, tangling around the both of them until he forgot just whose hands were whose and perhaps it didn't really matter.

She pulled away gently.

"When did you?" she started to ask.

"When I first—" An excited mumble.

"Me too."

They mirrored each others' smiles, noses practically touching each other. She moved her head to the side, draping herself over his shoulder and resting her cheek on it.

"Were you... mad, that I read your file?" _That you read all of those horrible things about me, you mean._

"No," he answered immediately. "In some ways it makes it easier. Knowing you."

"If you, if you want... you can—you can read mine." Her grip on him tightened just barely and he knew suddenly that she was dreading this answer.

"Only when you're ready to show me yourself."

She relaxed in his arms and hummed to herself then, tickling his neck. He squeezed her softly.

"You're very." She yawned. "Very sweet, Shinji-kun."

"Thank you," he whispered.

She kissed him on the neck.

* * *

"The submarines are ready. Fighters are stable and we've prepped the Spetznaz splinter according to your instructions. The names the Russians gave have checked out nicely; everyone including the captain has lost a relative in the Chechen conflict if not more." 

"Excellent, a good post-floods harvest. And the ambassador is prepared?"

"He's been instructed to put his child in the school. He doesn't know anything other than that his boy will be safe and the money we've set aside."

"Superb. What of Admiral Turner and his pesky little fleet."

"The UN is cooperating as intended; our Japan contacts should remain free of investigation. The Langley nuisance has been stalled for now."

Keel grumbled. "We will have to give the bulldog a more significant bone, I fear. Send the proper channels our sat-footage of Asuka prepping the Rail Device and leaving in the NERV transport. That should get their attention."

"What if the Americans..?"

"They will stall things as long as the children remain within their jurisdiction. Long enough for the rest to go according to plan. Has Tatsuki agreed to all our conditions yet?"

"Yes, he'll out the Second Branch on the timetable we've agreed to. Our television contacts will break the story as we've intended. When Tatsuki is finished playing our part we'll take care of him as well."

"As for this China business." Keel waved his hand dismissively. "Rather disappointing, don't you think?"

"They've... come to see our view of things, I suspect."

"The capabilities of NERV's orbital strike were... underestimated. Unfortunately most of the MAGI copies were lost in the second detonation."

"No matter," Keel made something like a smile. "We will have the originals soon enough."

"If we had preserved that center," Gendou interrupted, "I could have advanced my deadline significantly."

"Enough of your deadlines!" one of them barked shrilly.

"No need to get upset Ikari, we are providing you with the resources necessary," Keel mediated.

"And barely that," he harrumphed. _Could they suspect my plan? I doubt as much._

"We will free up many resources when the children have been eliminated."

"Your vile seed Ikari, he is the one you should be blaming, not us!"

He replied to the accusations with cold silence and nothing more.

"Agent Griffith."

The man stepped forward out of the artificial shadows, hands clasped behind his back. An American spy and acquired tool of SEELE. Performing quite nicely on their face-to-face espionage.

"Yes, Chairman?"

"Arrange a meeting with Katsuragi and Kaji to coincide with the Second Branch betrayal. Make sure it looks clean and we may continue to have some use for you."

"Of course, Chairman."

He disappeared back into the black veil.

"My son, will he..?" Gendou began.

"I told you! He still keens for his devil child."

The tremulous voices filled the chamber, speculating or simply mocking the man. Some angry, some amused, but all making a fuss. They were so easy to rile up, these old fools.

"Shinji will be eliminated according to your instructions," Keel pronounced, ignoring the rabble of his colleagues.

"Very well." Gendou felt nothing.

_Ten Fin_

* * *

A/N: Done! What a racy chapter! We got Rei's perceptive, sweaty attractions, and full-on drunken debauchery. Who would have thought I could possibly make another story Shinji-Asuka? HAHA! Ha I say to thee. Can you smell the danger? Canyasmellit? Wow. So I'm like really giddy about this chapter. Clearly. The script of chapter one is coming along quite nicely for those who are curious. I'm not quite sure where my readership went with the last chapter but hopefully some people will remember they were reading this! (winknudgebashetc.)I've also started up a little side-project another sneaky little Shinji-Asuka but completely oddball. Not nearly as epic as this thing is turning into. 

I have to admit I was struggling with the second half of this chapter but then, BAM! I realized exactly what I wanted (or rather what my characters wanted). I hope the Kaji-Misato scene didn't come off as too... easy. I hope Rei's humor was mildly amusing.

Much love!

Japanese lesson for this chapter:

-Light bonks to the head are a pretty common and accepted way of making fun. Japanese can be surprisingly open about physical contact in some ways and strangely distant about others. Misato is sort of doing a rendition of this on Kaji except she's letting her anger get the best of her and hitting him pretty hard as a result.

-I have no clue how "three sheets to the wind" would translate in Japanese. Yoparai is drunk but that just seems inadequate doesn't it?


	11. Even Compassion Has Its Uses

**Neon Genesis Evangelion**

**A Thousand Years of Secrecy**

Quick A/N: No disclaimers from here on out. Don't sue me! I still love you GAINAX and Mr. Morgan!

* * *

**Eleven – **_Even Compassion Has Its Uses_

"_Each child lives a life of betrayal, sometimes by their teachers, sometimes by their family, sometimes by strangers, and sometimes by each other."_

The news woke him up. Someone had left the TV on in the living room. He remembered shortly after he should not be sleeping in the TV room. Asuka lay curled up on the carpet in front of him. He smiled, unconsciously running a hand across her back and through her hair. Disoriented and tired, he tried to remember where and what last night was all about.

It occurred to him shortly thereafter that with a wineglass half full of Merlot, asleep in the living room with Asuka at his side, some sort of reprimand should have been inevitable by the return of the two keepers he had come to expect home that night: just where were Misato and Kaji? He probably could have pondered that longer had his vision not careened into to CNN on mute.

_So it's begun then?_

Envoys are not typical surprised, and rarely ever aghast. But the Shinji reflected at him in the glass of the television screen was both. He shook Asuka awake.

"Wha—what's happening?" she muttered, yawning and pushing away tangled bangs. "Hey." She giggled running a finger down his arm before his intense face shook her from the brief intimacy.

"China." He jabbed a finger at the screen and listened to her gasp.

"They—they blew it up?"

"_We_ blew it up, it seems," he corrected.

"Shit." She looked around the room frantically.

"Where are—"

"No idea. Not home yet obviously," he continued, eyes locked on the report.

She turned back, the horror of her face slowly drifting away with determined Envoy calm. His hangover was dead to him, killed by years of training the autonomic processes in the body to react to drugging. It was supposed to be for interrogation but it had its other uses.

"Mutherfucker—is that Tatsuki-sensei?"

Yes it was. They were flashing scant pictures of the mean old bastard half-sensei that Touji had misfortune of calling 'master' once was on television. And what he was supposedly saying was almost too unbelievable except that in that moment it dawned on Shinji that SEELE was finally making their second move. The other shoe that had been waiting to fall since Tokyo-3's destruction was coming tumbling to the ground and now it was a simple matter of not being crushed. Or not so simple, depending on what they had in store.

There was a sinking feeling in being proclaimed a terrorist on national television and it was amplified knowing it was the enemy's work and not some bizarre mistake.

"—former instructor and high-ranking official within the secretive military complex owned and operated by NERV. He joins us live now from an undisclosed location."

"Hello, Donna." Strangle him, the conditioning whispered. Strangle him now. Like you should have then. It had not just been the rage of what he said about his mother, something else in him, even deeper, had picked up on the treachery prematurely. He had only read it as something else. Or was it the two in unison?

"Mr. Tatsuki, what can you tell us about the bombing of the China facility," the blonde puppet rattled off.

"Well obviously for reasons of confidentiality, I can't go into details but what we do know is that the facility has been destroyed and the finger has been pointed squarely at NERV by the Chinese government." He glared into the screen.

"You piece of shit, they're using you," Asuka seethed, catching onto SEELE's involvement easily.

"What did you do when you discovered your colleagues had been killed?" the blonde continued, oblivious to their fuming.

"I immediately used my priority access—" _As if you have such a thing you arrogant asshole._ "—to look into the bombing and verify that this had happened. When I saw the orders from the Japanese branch I knew and I immediately evacuated my self and my staff from the compound."

"We have to get in touch with Misato. Now," Shinji said but did not turn from the screen just yet. He could sense something important waiting to be revealed. Asuka growled agreement, fixed in place.

"Tell us about the US Government's response when you explained to them what you saw."

"Well, what I can tell you is that both Homeland Security and the Chinese Government were both very helpful in ensuring my safety and that of my colleagues. We are currently trying to locate the remaining staff and move them safely away from the facility." That lie was paper-thin; something much worse was happening to the Second Branch staff and, Shinji could feel it with every false syllable. Interrogation perhaps. Maybe torture. Even execution. He refused for the startling moment to believe that Kaji and Misato would let themselves be caught, wherever they were, they were trying to take the attention away from the children. Theoretically speaking, no one had made the connection that there were six Envoys living in this apartment, not two.

"This hangover, it doesn't feel—normal…"

Shinji looked up at her. He used their hand-speak for danger and enemy, then ran to the kitchen. There was no possible way the US would have let them see this on TV unless they'd already searched the apartment for his senseis. He began boiling some tea and when it was whistling loud enough he whispered to her.

"Drugged us. Probably one, two hours ago at most. Let's go and check to make sure the others are here. Act normal. No Envoy shit, just in case the bugs are better than Kaji's security."

"I'll run a sweep with my—fuck."

"They took your palm?"

She nodded. "The sweep may take a bit longer than I had intended. You check on Rei and Touji. And Hikari." _Yes, she would have to be kept free of this, whatever the case may be._ "I'll go grab my laptop and start working on a full sweep. I doubt they actually got into that thing in the time they've had us knocked out."

He took the kettle off the burner and darted into his old room. Touji and Hikari lay in Touji's futon together, thankfully semi-clothed. He jumped over to the other room to find Rei meditating.

"Rei, have you—"

She silenced him with a look and ran her eyes across three corners of ceiling. Envoy code for bugged. Shinji didn't have to nod, but his stubborn grin was thanks enough for her incredible training. Technically she'd been an Envoy the longest of all of them.

"I was just catching up on my morning meditation, Shinji. Feeling a bit sleepy, are we?" she dabbled, letting the hidden meaning be as obvious as they could dare.

"Yeah something like that," he said, pretending to scratch his head but with the precise motions that meant 'intruder' in hand-speak. "Seen what's on the TV yet?"

"Turned it on for you before you woke up, sleepy-head," she chided.

Rei could not control that her body processed the sleeping derms faster than should be humanly capable; when an Envoy body went into stasis like that, it did whatever was programmed into it for the most likely survival of the host. In this case it was get the hell up as fast as possible. It could make a surgery a complicated thing.

Somewhere, near the base of the apartment, he imagined some FBI or other folks hunkered over crappy screens in the back of dry cleaning delivery truck, trying desperately to translate their Japanese slang as quickly as possible; translators in the spy devices would have made them too bulky to slip past Kaji's stringent net and as long as the Americans considered NERV a threat to their national security, anything was possible. Especially with them camping out in their own backyard. Kaji, however, had grown up well within SEELE's reach, training Asuka right under the noses of them up until the Third Branch's decommission. Perhaps his defenses would be subtle enough to pick up any slack they'd created.

More than anything, Shinji was keen to trust Rei's instincts more than his own; if she saw bugs, there were bugs. No screw-ups now. They'd have to keep things low key. He hoped Japanese would be hard enough to lip-read that he and Asuka's conversation in the kitchen would be impossible to grasp. At least for long enough to get the hell out and off the grid.

"Join me for some tea?" he offered, and she took his hand and followed him into the living room.

As the four of them re-convened in the living room, Touji the most bleary-eyed of all, Shinji silently tried to figure out how to go about having a tactical meeting with the enemy spying on you.

The phone rang, loud and insistent. And rang again. And again. All of them turned to look at Shinji who stared at it emptily and carefully neutral.

Slowly he walked over to the kitchen and answered.

"Into Misato's bedroom. Now! This phone won't work again after you hang up."

The line died. Literally. And as he placed it back on the wall, he brought the voice to test and lifted up the phone to find it dead, the only signal he felt worthy of trusting. On such short notice they didn't exactly have any other way to contact them discreetly. The MAGI would have already destroyed all semblance of where that call came from now. Probably fried several of the relays along the way.

Slowly he placed it back on the receiver and turned back towards the expectant stares of the other three. He didn't recognize the voice—didn't have to. It was someone, perhaps even some_thing_ at NERV, and it was communicating to him. To all of them.

He walked into her bedroom, the other three shuffling in behind him, to find the entire thing nearly destroyed. Whereas they'd left the rest of the house intact, they had no such delicate touch with Misato's room. They must have suspected whatever they were looking for was in there and for the sake of time, no doubt thanks to Rei's early rising, they'd gone through the place rather expediently.

A transparency blinked into the air above one nearly destroyed dresser. His well pressed suit mismatched with crumpled shreds of clothes dangling over yanked out drawers. Fuyutsuki's grim visage held them all in place.

"Children, we have much to discuss."

* * *

Kaji woke her and led her out onto the fire escape at four in the morning, carrying her clothing under his arms. When they'd reached the floor below they both heard the telltale sign of a door kicked in and no accompanying "freeze!" or "police!" which meant that they were most certainly dealing with professionals. As they scrambled down to the next floor she shivered against the cold air and wished she'd worn something more than her underwear to bed. 

_Thank god we picked a NERV vintage, rather than some real hotel. Without the extra security of that safe house they might have had us still snoring._

Kaji guided her slowly, careful to remain soundless on the steel steps. They flipped onto the sidewalk below the first floor's escape, landing with ninjitsu softness and heard the window slide open. He flushed her against the wall with him, hand across her bare navel, which tugged at guilty and very enjoyable memories of the night before.

She dressed quickly when it was clear no one was on the escape and proceeded down the street, heels in hand, as inconspicuously as a couple could manage at this time of night. But if their pursuers had chameleoflague the jig was most likely already up. Given the FBI's careful surveillance of the children already, it was any one's guess. Living on a prayer.

Griff was waiting for them around the corner, cigarette smoldering in the corner of his lips.

"Come with me if you want to live." He crushed the butt under foot as he walked away from them.

They followed him into a dark, non-imposing sedan parked just up the street. He drove and spoke like a coroner—delicate but precise. Just who was dead yet wasn't clear.

"Your man Tatsuki broke the China attack to the authorities a little over thirty minutes ago. NERV personnel inside the Second Branch are being arrested as we speak. I don't know where they are taking them or what's happening to them but I'll let you fill in the blanks on that one."

Kaji sat up front with him, eyes switching between the road and the double agent. Misato sentried either side for snipers or whoever else would be watching this car.

"A counter-terrorism unit was about to detain you back there, I had to wait to make my move. Sorry," he said as he began rummaging for another cigarette.

"No need for apologies," replied quickly.

"The FBI doesn't know about their op yet, this is all coming from way up high, above my head, above my superior's. I got the message to intervene about fifteen minutes ago."

"You were tailing us again." He had to have been, to be at hand on such short notice. Misato sounded more curious than surprised; last time he'd clearly not been trying his hardest to stay out of the way.

"No choice. We'd heard whispers but nothing this size was expected. Your man stirred up the hornet's nest. There's no turning back for the US now, by morning all NERV personnel will be locked up somewhere safe, spilling their guts out to my more… hands-on colleagues."

"Where are you taking us then?" Kaji asked.

"Somewhere safe."

The handgun sounded like a cannon in the confines of the tiny sedan. It painted Kaji across the passenger side window with a deflated grunt. As Griff turned to level the weapon at Misato's stunned face, Kaji's palm caught the bottom of his hand, smashing it into the ceiling. He caught Griff's hand between his own and the metal, audibly breaking a few fingers. The back window shattered with a whoosh of air as another round went off. He jabbed his thumb into Griff's eye socket, eliciting a scream from the man; Griff struggled absently to bring the bloodied gun back around to aim at Kaji again.

"Nigerou! Ike!" he moaned at her.

_Run! Go!_

She pulled open the door without thinking, tumbling out of the back of the car as it accelerated. Two more shots sounded off as the car sped down the street away from her. She kept coughing blood on the asphalt. She struggled to breathe normally again, forcing her lungs into the chi exercises Fuyutsuki had bludgeoned into her so long ago. Muscle-memory of the conditioning came to her with golden clarity, shining as the only truth amidst the confusion.

She forced herself to her knees and stared at the disappearing taillights of the car into the darkness.

Sobs trembled in her throat.

_Kaji is—he's._

No time for that. The children. Get up. Get to them. As fast as possible. Find a phone. Go!

She let the training overwhelm the grief and staggered up, stumbling out of the street and into the adjacent park. She ran barefoot. She'd left the heels in the car. Within everything else that was crumbling apart. But she would adapt.

Adapt. That's they were made to do. Cope. And do it quickly.

* * *

"Calm down Katsuragi-san. Remember the seven controls and turn them up," he instructed her with infuriating calm, not quite reprimanding her behavior but not empathizing. He was anchoring her back to neutrality with each word, preparing her. 

"I'm sorry sir."

She dried her eyes with wide strokes of her palms.

The park was soulless at this hour and as she crouched next to the tiny pond she felt herself at once being ridiculous and justified. It was strangely dark for the city but it smelled of something faintly natural which was a good change of pace and almost comforting.

"Your first priority is the suits. You must keep them safe at any cost. If even one of those should make its way back to the enemy—well, I don't think I need to elaborate the severity of the consequences."

"Yes, sir. And the children?"

"They will fend for themselves as we've taught them too. I'm already preparing their briefing for when the drugs wear off. Ka—your partner's security of the apartment was not fully disabled, which should keep them safe for some time. We're already feeding fake footage to them.

_So at least they're safe for the moment._

She sighed like something heavy was dripping off her shoulders.

"I can get to the apartment I think. I'm not sure what the city surveillance is like…"

"Already handling that. We've got a swath of blackouts rolling through northern California as we speak courtesy of Maya, Akagi-san, and the MAGI."

"Fuyutsuki, there's no way the Americans will miss that," she replied sounding thankful yet concerned.

"They'll be busy with other things. And besides, after this point the Americans may be truly irrelevant."

It was a simple way to put the frightening realization: they'd truly become isolated in their battle with SEELE. The council of old men through lies, murder, and who knows what else, had manipulated the whole rest of the world against them. As Fuyutsuki had once put it, NERV's been resting on the brink of annihilation since the beginning; it's only proper to keep the tradition going.

"There's one more issue we must discuss." The shift in his tone disturbed her.

"Operation 176?" she said more than asked. It was the only operation dedicated to Kaji's control, which she did not have access to. A little skeleton in her closet she'd expected from the outset of this conversation.

"Yes and it is my sincerest wish that you will not react poorly to its revealing. It is a delicate matter at the very heart of Asuka's training and something that must remain in secrecy for some time longer. I give it to you with this firm recommendation."

She'd already read about the girl's absent father and demanding mother. Her mother's tragic schizophrenia and the subsequent childhood of abandonment, marred by things out of her control. It was oddly tragic in a way similar to Shinji's but for very different reasons. And probably some testament to the conditioning that she'd turned out as such a healthy, functioning young girl.

"Fuyutsuki, I'll take care of her as well as I have done with Shinji and Rei."

"Of that, I'm certain."

"So tell me."

He did.

"_I let her have some passion; any great actor has to have passion to play their part."_

"_You did your job, and I did mine. Just like sensei asked us," he said in a manner that sounded almost resolved._

And when it was over, she struggled to breathe in the silence, stunned and searching for something appropriate to say.

"You—you… bastard."

She killed the call and found her hand shaking as she clutched at the phone and clutched at what had just been given to her. It would destroy everything she'd tried to create if she told them the truth. But the alternative was worse. There are some secrets you cannot live with.

She hung up the pay phone, knowing it would not ring again, and walked home through the eerie darkness of blackouts, knowing that this day would change everything she'd tested as a sensei. She only did not know the full extent of this truth.

* * *

She trudged through the doors at six in the morning, shoeless and smelling of Kaji's cologne. The chatter of the morning cooking routine grounded to a halt as the front door swung open and she walked in wordlessly. Her dress was torn in several places revealing the skin beneath and often scratches, and in one case a scar that had clearly been put there much longer ago. The five children confronted the woman in the narrow hallway leading to the kitchen, each face a different bewilderment. Shinji stepped forward out of the pack. 

"Where's Kaji?" he asked innocently.

She could not contain the tear that broke free as the question halted her. She paused, waiting for her voice to return.

"I don't know."

_Kaji's dead. This isn't possible. I spoke with him yesterday._

"Oh." He glanced back at the still very surprised Hikari who was now glaring at their sensei's bare feet. "Would you—would you like some breakfast?"

She shook her head. "Don't worry about me. I'm going to put on something a little more…" She picked up a piece of the bloodied fabric, staring at it a moment, then let it go. "Suitable."

"Your room's _still_ a mess," Shinji interjected quickly as she started to step past them.

"Oh? Oh. Yes. Thank you, Shinji-kun," she said absently enough to convince Hikari.

The crowd of students parted for her as she entered soundlessly into her room.

Shinji turned to find tears in the eyes of Asuka, her face grim and expressionless. Without thinking he put his arms around her and kissed her cheek.

"I—" she started and then gave up.

"It's okay. Everything's going to be… okay." Losing a sensei was too close to losing a parent. Even Rei seemed shocked into some contemplative melancholy.

"What—is she okay? What's going on?" Hikari asked Touji, staring after Misato's shut door.

"Something bad," he muttered. "Something… bad."

Asuka slowly leaned her head onto Shinji's shoulder as Rei approached and tentatively touched a hand to hers. She closed her eyes very gently, as if going to sleep.

Rei and Hikari returned to the kitchen after volunteering and Touji deposited himself into the couch with a deep sigh. Last night they'd been so happy it seemed. How quickly the world could change itself around for reasons that were both invisible and too obvious.

"I should go talk to her," he whispered into the auburn hair after a minute of stillness with her.

She squeezed his hand once and left for the balcony. She drew the door open and closed it behind herself.

He knocked on the door once and after no answer cracked it open.

"Misato, can I…"

There was no answer and just as he was about to draw the door shut a weak and empty "hai" returned to his ears.

He found her only in bra and panties digging through scraps of clothes and occasionally picking one promising looking piece up for before tossing it back in. He knew about the scars from her sparse stories about them and the few times they'd been to the hot springs together but it still was a shock to see them crisscrossing past the white borders of cotton. Someone had come very close to killing Misato once as a little girl. She said to him long ago that she hated going to the beach afterwards. Hated all the people who would stare.

The white crucifix dangled against her chest, its base smeared with blood that did not look like her own.

"Maybe Asuka or Rei has something?" he said softly.

She did not stop digging.

"My skirts are already short enough as is, Shinji," she tried to joke, but her voice broke at the end.

Tears sprung anew and she gave up on searching for clothes, stunned into nothing, just watching her two buried hands with an expression of a woman who did not know what to do next. Her conditioning was clobbered today. It was probably taking all of her control just to keep going.

Shinji approached, careful not to step on anything.

"Misato, I—I'm sorry. I don't know what to do…"

She closed the distance between them in an instant and grabbed him into a hug. He found himself at odds with his hormones. It was awkward being pressed against her nearly naked body but it was astoundingly comforting and after a moment he relented against the contrary feelings, leaning closer to her. She rarely touched him physically, as if aware of this conundrum but now the wall lay shattered.

"Shinji." Her voice stuttered over the syllables. "I have. Something. Terrible to tell you."

Her breath shook against him in soft gasps.

"And I think it may just. Ruin you. But I have to tell you."

He found himself frightened beneath the soothing hands but his voice betrayed nothing.

"You can tell me, Misato."

They breathed against each other for a few moments.

"Operation 176 was the order handed down to Ryouji Kaji after you were chosen to be an Envoy for NERV. You are not the Third Child, Shinji. You are the second, and Asuka was chosen as the third after your appointment. She was chosen not only because of her incredible intelligence and ability but because it was decided by analysis that she was the best possible compliment for you. Kaji trained her because of his physical resemblance to you and she was trained in order to seduce you to keep you anchored to NERV. Given your history of running away from home and other variables, it was decided that the best way to attach you permanently to NERV and ensure your loyalty was to find a suitable partner as a justification for staying. Rei was not an option and thus Asuka was recruited as a replacement. This is operation 176, Shinji. I'm. I'm so sorry."

His breath left him. He felt dizzy, spinning around and around. The words tumbled into his psyche, and though he imagined some part of himself reacting in pain, he could not find it. It toiled like angry seas beneath Envoy induced calm that refused to let him feel it. A Second Impact on his soul, invading his every thought and memory.

How could it be possible? The only person he'd let in past the carefully crafted Envoy walls besides Misato and perhaps Rei was nothing more than a farce, following orders and playing a part to trick him under Fuyutsuki's will. Yes they'd seen his resignation coming far sooner than he had. It could not be coincidence that the first time he'd ever met Asuka was moments before he attempted to resign. It could not be coincidence that of all of the girls he'd met through high school and before, only Asuka had not been scared away by his serious demeanor or reluctance. In fact, it was almost as though she'd used his very own defenses against him. Of course she'd read the file about his childhood; she would have had to in order to successfully perform her mission. Her whole persona unraveled before him into a series of cardboard images, no substance to their paper surface. It was nothing more than a show; perhaps even her own supposed "troubled childhood" was nothing more than a myth convince him of their similarity and her sincerity. And he hadn't read the file just like she asked.

Yes, Asuka was simply one giant act, waiting to disintegrate for when NERV no longer had a use for him. And he'd been fooled, utterly and totally fooled. So fooled, that last night he'd had his first kiss with this _puppet_ and been convinced that she, maybe one day, could understand and care for the troubled being of Shinji Ikari. He'd given his love to a lie.

He didn't quite remember leaving her room. Only her voice calling out to him, begging him to wait.

He grabbed her by the wrist dragging her back inside.

"Shinji! You're hurting me!" _Good._

He slammed her against the wall of the living room, pinning her. She stared at him, confused and trembling.

"Shinji, what are you—"

"Operation 176." He felt the dagger twist as her expression turned more frightened. "How could you? How could you?"

A stunned Touji was standing up somewhere behind him, but not moving to intervene. An equally confused pair of Rei and Hikari joined him from the kitchen.

"I couldn't, I—"

"Lied! It was all a lie, wasn't it?"

"No, not anymore! You don't understand! At first I—" she pleaded.

"You what? You _nothing_," he growled, their faces inches apart.

"You don't understand. I didn't have a choice," she said, voice lowering with her gaze. The guilt was bare and obvious for all to see.

"Bullshit you didn't!"

Then she was shouting back.

"Don't you get it? They chose me because they knew I'd have no choice. Before I met you it was different. But then… we—I wanted." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I wanted to be with you, Shinji-kun. Suki dakara."

_Because I like you._

He shook his head and released her. He couldn't tell if she was lying. Didn't care. He walked to his room passed the three other taken aback students, retrieved his bomber jacket, then walked to the front door.

"Don't go!" she cried out from behind him.

_I mustn't run away. I mustn't run away. I mustn't run away. I mustn't _run away!

He left without pause.

His bike's tank was full when he checked the gauge. He could get out of the state, maybe even to Canada in a day's hard riding. He put on the jacket and climbed on.

* * *

He heard the first explosion from the hills outside of the city. It was an unmistakable base rumbling, louder than even the noise of the bike's churning cylinders. He decelerated at a turn on the cliff face and got off quickly. Black smoke was rising from somewhere in the city. 

He saw the dots on the horizon, twinkling in the rising sun like little sparks above the water. Another missile made its soft whining shriek and disappeared behind skyscrapers with another thundering boom. Finally, SEELE was coming for them. He stood on the precipice of the cliff, uncertain. It was at that moment Quell finally came to him:

"What you live for, in simple terms, can be summed into whom you're willing to die for. If you're willing to die in a foreign war, you live for your country. If you're willing to die in a robbery gone wrong, you live for your family. And if you're too afraid to act, you're living for no one and nothing. We are all heroes, disguised in ordinary clothes and ordinary problems. It is when the moment strikes, will you be willing to act and for whom? Your children? Your parents? Your friends? Your lover? Your _cause_? This is your measure, be true to it and your life, no matter what digressions, will be a true one. If you give this up, what do you really have that's worth living for?"

Quellcrist Falconer, Dreams Are Everything

He went back to the bike. Started the engine. He turned it around with little effort and gunned the bike forward. Shinji knew what he would die for that day. And he was prepared to take the chance. He headed back into the city.

_Eleven Fin_

* * *

A/N: I like this chapter the most of all of the ones I've written. I don't really have too much more to say about it than that. The change in the title format is on purpose and its meant to evoke how Anno would occaisionally title an episode a ridiculously long phrase. I'll try and use it only where I think it's appropriate. 

Thanks to everyone who's been keeping up with me so far. It felt really great to get this chapter done today. I managed to write most of it over the course of yesterday and today and though it was occaisionally a struggle I feel like it really paid off. Hopefully the next chapter should come along sooner than it took me to do this one. School generally excites me more than it limits so take that as a good sign._  
_

Japanese lesson for this chapter:

-suki dakara. Love is a complicated thing in any language, but from what I've come to understand from my friends saying "I like you" rather than "watashi no koto ga suki desu ka?" which is literally, "do you like my things?" is a really big difference. Suki is a heavy-handed word in Japanese relationships. I left it as "like" because I think you can get the proper sense of the impact of the sentence within the scene. It can be equated more or less as "I love you," although translated literally, that would be "ai shite," which is "to do love."

Everyone who pointed out sensei-tachi as plural for sensei is more or less right except that Japanese doesn't really have real pluralizers (that I've learned yet anyways). You can have counters, but then you need an exact number, and -tachi, from what I've come to understand is more about belonging to the group of senseis than "several senseis" That's why "watashi tachi" doesn't mean "several of me" but rather "we." Does that make sense?


	12. Bleed Lost

**Neon Genesis Evangelion**

**A Thousand Years of Secrecy**

**Twelve – **_Bleed / Lost_

"_The locust return."_

She was destroyed. She folded into Misato's arms and wept for the first time she could remember since the first night with her foster family. This was a new pain, an unfamiliar one she had not expected of herself; one Kaji had not prepared her for. An Envoy heart was supposed to be a closed and limited thing, grasping at nothing further than comradeship in those whom she called friend. There was not supposed to be any deeper ties, save perhaps her attachment to Kaji-sensei. But she had let this other close, too close, and in moments both of them had been wrenched from her: first Kaji, now Shinji.

If it was only one perhaps she could come to grips, given the safety and comfort of the other. But suddenly both were gone and there was no one. Little Asuka was alone again, just as she'd been for too much of her childhood. One of them had disappeared into the rude, incomprehensible fog of a cold war; the other had died before her eyes, turned into the cold, calculating murderer she feared so greatly—those moments when his conditioning fully killed him. Yes, they were both dead to her, in a sense. Would it really matter if Shinji were now truly killed? He would never return to her and would never be the same. How ironic: this love born out of a lie.

Did she have any choice but to love him? Misato was a warrior of epic proportions, but Kaji was a spy of equal greatness. He had guided her straight into her role with perfection and sly control befitting the status of a master. From her teenaged crush on the unshaven man all the way to the mysticism and pity he had instilled in her for Shinji; this other child that was one part God, one part killer, one part child. A little boy wrapped up in the garments of a man to the point that even he believed himself to be one. But the childish fear, joy, and innocence all remained—an intoxicating mix of humanity.

Had she ever known any other so close to herself as Shinji? Had she ever wanted any other to know her more deeply? Before she had even met him, she'd fallen in love with this Shinji Ikari and much to her confusion, the feelings she'd once thought to be perpetrating for the sake of a mission lived on without her ambition.

When was the last time she'd ever done anything that wasn't for the sake of NERV or her sensei? Did such memories even exist for her anymore? She could not recall them if they lurked. There had to be a few. Things she'd studied under her mother's encouragement. Graduating from college on the accelerated program. But even those had somehow fit into Fuyutsuki's schemes. But Shinji. Shinji had been a new thing, an unfamiliar impulse driving her closer to him that bore some resemblance to a selfishness—one that only lingered in the frosted over edges of her personality; a neediness that was supposed to be eradicated with her training. Kaji must have left some intact, to complete the illusion. But the illusion, for all its cold cleverness, had taken on a life of its own and with that life a warmth.

Shinji had become a want, not an objective. But in her haste, he deserted her. And now a most crushing melancholy, an abandonment she had never fully known since her mother's abrupt suicide, crept back into her and poured its wailing heart out upon Misato's steady shoulder.

She wept for her life. For all the loved ones who left her behind. For her mother. For Kaji. For Shinji. For little Asuka, especially little Asuka, the girl who had ceased to be with Kaji's clever manipulations. She knew none of these people now. And they could scarcely know her. All had left her for… what? And why? She'd once thought to prove to the world her worth to them through NERV; to prove to these people their mistake in leaving. But none had truly had any choice in the matter, save Shinji. And the most horrible realization dawned on her as she cried out for these pasts—the most horrible realization that Shinji had been correct.

The liar revealed, wept in pity for herself, for her feelings of want and regret.

Conditioning would sweep them away in due time, correct her. But this piece would always remain missing, stolen by Shinji's angry exodus.

_Goddamn you, Shinji. Come back. Come back to me. Please…_

* * *

It was rare to see Fuyutsuki brood. The triad of the bridge crew could sense it, even through the Envoy's masking; dark things lurked over their collective shoulders and, they did not dare to turn and face them. They took orders sharply, and their collective chatter was reduced to nothing, leaving the cool silence to sweep into and over everything in the bridge room. For once its characteristically lively voices were reduced to coarse whispers and footsteps to and fro.

Everything now hung high in the air, balancing on invisible struts that crumbled with each passing breath. How long would the UN shelter them? Were they safe from attack? And when and where was it coming from? Everyone, even the lesser command crew could sense the noose tightening with every subtle tug of SEELE's hand. Fuyutsuki watched their hard work erode into the face of an enemy that had kept them running from the dawn of history. All the pieces were already in place; the details would kill or let them succeed but there was very little else NERV could attempt to alter the course of events now. That would be up to the Envoys in the field and their own sacrifices.

Ritsuko ran simulations through the MAGI as best she could, but the distraction to her side was an itch always to be scratched. She knew could not speak first and held her tongue with mighty self-control. Fuyutsuki would open with his concerns and leadership when the moments demanded it. When something finally went badly enough to require intervention.

"Sir," Aoba wavered, looking up from his console. "No, never mind…"

"What is it?" Fuyutsuki said, eyes still closed, hands still steepled across his mouth.

"Probably nothing, sir. Just some anomalous heat in one of the volcanic regions of the Pacific shelf you put on the watch list."

"Take a peak into scientific posts looking at thermal activity in that ocean," Ritsuko ordered.

"I already crosschecked with them, ma'am. None of their instruments are picking it up. It spiked up about twenty seconds ago and then went back to normal levels. Maybe just some atmospheric noise in our own relays?" Aoba responded, hints of self-doubt creeping in and out.

"What does your gut tell you?" Ibuki countered.

The three operators entered into discussion.

"Well, they have server banks offshore dedicated to monitoring and processing that info…" Aoba continued.

"Meaning?" Hyuuga asked.

"Meaning… that unless we were witnessing some sort of radioactive or electric anomaly in our own observations, their data can't be correct." He halted, twirling a well-chewed pen between nimble fingers. "But that can't be right. Their sensors are dedicated and re-calibrated for this kind of grunt work all the time; it's precisely the sort of thing that would send alarms up."

"Assume someone didn't want those alarms sounded then," Fuyutsuki growled, eyes opening to reveal their usual intensity.

Displays shifted immediately, the rainbows of data twirling and rearranging in the space beyond them to re-focus their intensity on Aoba's problem.

"That would… sir, that's not even possible," Hyuuga interjected. "That would require data manipulation on a scale comparable to what the MAGI can cook up. And what would be the point?"

"—sir, heat reading is back again. I don't understand… no one else is picking it up yet, but it's clear as day for us. And growing!" Aoba said, trying to mask panic with professional calm.

"Deep-launch ballistic missiles?" Ritsuko asked, perking up her brow and bringing up the relevant schematics on her tablet. A quick glance at her results proved inconclusive.

"Not unless they plan on starting a real war. They need their resources unified for longer," Fuyutsuki answered, eyes scanning back and forth over the floating lines of text and graphs.

"Planes then?" she continued.

"I've heard of China testing out some fighters that could reach the sea surface from submarine depth and go straight into flight with the proper ballast support but they never got much more than water-logged failures," Ibuki offered.

"Clearly something else SEELE's been hiding from us," Fuyutsuki countered. "Get us a live feed of the area where you detect the heat discharge. Start recording and prep a secure line to Turner and Washington as well."

"Yes, sir!" the operators responded.

Blue calm ocean flitted onto the largest real estate of the images projected, twinkling in a dawn sunlight. There was a brief visible glow beneath its turquoise surface, dimmer than candlelight, hardly distinguishable from the sun's rays.

"That's…" Aoba dropped his headset.

Five explosions of rising water burst forth, in the center of them the lines of sleek white aircraft. They had the smooth curves of something almost shellfish and alien.

"Those look like joint strike fighters!" Ibuki shouted.

"Impossible! Those things don't have this kind of capability," Ritsuko said, frightened eyes studying the floating planes.

They hovered over the water's surface a moment, then slowly began to glow; the brightness on screen almost fully obscured their fuselages before evaporating. Soon the pattern of the water was visible beneath their pale outlines. Then the shapes were gone entirely. After another moment the engine trails on afterburner shot out of the frame of view.

"No… thermoptic camouflage on that scale shouldn't be possible, not without an S2 Unit," Ritsuko mumbled to herself.

Fuyutsuki's smile held little mirth.

"Someone's been snooping around Antartica again, I see." He nodded for a moment at his invisible adversary's cunning, as if they were in the bridge. Then his manner changed.

"Alert NORAD! Send them the footage immediately! Someone open up that line to Turner for me. And someone give Dr. Akagi the line to Washington. Do it!"

"Yes, sir!" the three shouted, scrambling to catch up.

Fuyutsuki picked up the gray shapes of the phone from its bank in his desk.

"Hello, Admiral Turner. I have something you and your allies may want to see…"

* * *

She was taking them to school. There simply weren't any other options. Fuyutsuki had already told her that was the safest place to keep them. They drove in silence, all reluctant to discuss Shinji's running away. Asuka's composure trembled under Hikari's reassurances but held fast.

She'd made them put on their plugsuits under the baggiest clothing they had available, careful to keep Hikari out of the way as they changed. She'd put hers on after scrounging a pair of Kaji's jeans untouched, an old tank top she hadn't even remembered packing, and a jacket from Shinji's room which fit better than she'd expected. Her control gnawed as the smell of those two men wafted into her nose every so often under the A/C but she forced it away, concentrating on how to catch up with the one of them that was still alive: Shinji was heading to the northeast, already on the highway, according to the satellite she'd requisitioned.

She brought the feed up at each red light, letting the racing scenery speed past the red demon of a bike and directly into her optic nerve. Her sports car would be fast enough to catch him in an hour if she broke all traffic law after dropping the children off. She'd already made up her mind. He was _her _responsibility. She was _his_ sensei. She would get him to stop if it meant running him off the road.

Shinji's suit was already in a NERV transport, snaking its way back to the fleet through a complicated system of switch-offs and false starts; Kaji's hadn't been in their room. The Americans must have somehow found it. Soon, very soon, SEELE would be on even footing with them. Then it would be a real battle to the death.

She pulled up to the parking lot and let them out, a soft "good bye" slipping out of her lips. Only Hikari returned it shakily, still uneasy from this morning's events, most of which she could not even begin to grasp.

Misato tore out of the parking lot with a screech of tires as soon as the doors had shut, nearly running over a student as she slid onto the main drag and through a red light. A truck honked angrily behind her as the bewildered student's face glared at her in her rearview mirror. She made for the highway.

As she hurled herself onto the ocean side boulevard she didn't quite see it in the corner of her eye, too busy looking at the ETA to Shinji shrink as she accelerated. She almost made a full turn of her head to look out at the ocean before the missile's noise caught up with the car and her hood turned into a pool of light, the brightness of which she'd not seen since her last combat mission.

* * *

Their first class had only just begun when they heard the explosion. Everyone stopped talking all at once, and the teacher peered out the window, searching for the inevitable car crash. From the second story window they could see no stopped traffic, no sign at all in fact that anything had happened.

"Everyone, take a five minute break. I'm going to go next door and see if Mrs. Carrington knows what's going on."

Students chatted with animated fervor and speculation, oblivious to Touji's tense expression.

His eyes ticked over to Asuka, then Rei. They wore the same expression.

_Attack. They're coming. No time._

He turned towards the windows facing west, using his suit to magnify what he could see between the towers downtown. Slowly the white sparkle in the air came into focus.

_Enemy_.

He saw the trail of the missile gliding gently, framed in between the buildings.

He stood.

"Everyone get—"

Deafening noise.

He was on the floor. It was incredibly quiet. He could hear his own breathing, his heartbeat. Nothing more.

Someone was shaking him. He looked up, confused. Asuka's mouth opened over and over again, but the words would not come. Just an empty ringing. His head lolled by no will of its own, drool snaking free from his lips. She righted him, cradling the back of his head with her hand.

"—hear me, Touji? Get up, get up! Now!"

He struggled to his feet. The side of their classroom wasn't there anymore. Just the park and skyscrapers across the street. No windows. No wall. Nothing from floor to ceiling.

He smelled smoke and explosives, a spicy tinge in the air over the stink of burning flesh. Their blackboard was gone. Behind it, what should have been a classroom was black, charred nothing bleeding into the hallway and the classes across. The floor had simply fallen into the classroom below; he could see limbs sticking out from underneath the mess. Tiny clumps of flesh and brain painted the ceiling, roasted all shades of pink and brown. Students at the front of his class existed in jumbles of mixed bits and pieces. Each shape was slightly more intact as he scanned his vision towards the back of the room.

Crying and moaning sounds echoed emptily over the crackle of the fires. The boy in front of him, Alexander, gurgled something. He lay crumpled over his desk, face down. When he fell out of his chair, Touji saw the pink and gray intestines draped over his pre-calculus textbook. The front of the desk had a single diamond hole in it. It must have blown straight into his stomach. Alex thankfully died before making any more drowning noises. He had liked playing cards and acting in the school theater.

Asuka's hand drifted over his shoulder without quite touching him. She did not look at him as she spoke, something empty and confused filling her voice.

"We need to—we need to—we need to…" Her voice deserted her.

Their teacher stumbled in through what might have been the doorway to their class. His body was covered in burns and blood, most of his clothing gone. Nothing but dark emptiness appeared where his arms should have been. His face looked like pulp but somehow the cruel shapes moved and spoke.

"Children… infirmary," he muttered before falling into his desk. He exhaled very slowly and did not inhale afterwards.

Touji turned around to find Rei whispering to the crumpled heap of a girl who always used to sit at the back of the class. Her weeping was soft, not emphatic. Stanley, a boy near the front was dragging himself towards where the windows had been, moaning the most horrible noises; they did not sound human. His entire bottom half had simply gone missing somewhere above the thigh, mangled shreds of human spreading themselves out behind him like a gruesome red carpet. He stopped moving after a few more pathetic scrapes across the floor.

_Hikari is on the other side of school. We have to evacuate. Draw them away._

Touji grabbed Asuka.

"Asuka. Asuka! Look at me! We have to go. Now!" he shouted at her.

"Yeah," she whimpered. "Go. Away."

Rei tried to convince the girl to stand up. She refused, struggling violently and crying out until they gave up and left her behind. Nothing else moved as they left the classroom.

* * *

Shinji weaved the bike back and forth between halted, rubber-necking drivers trying to comprehend the smoke billowing out of their pristine city. That was when the catamaran's shadow drifted over him gently, yanking his vision upwards. It was a sort of catamaran—at least, that was the only thing his brain could make of it. It was black, and huge even at whatever height it was hovering at, probably bigger than a passenger jet. Its two-pronged front was angular like one of those racing jet boats. Its darkness was immense, nothing reflecting off the gentle shapes. _Probably stealthed materials._ It blotted out the blue sky above him like an impossible silhouette and quickly became the focus of frightened and excited drivers, who ignored the green light from the highway exit ramp. The stillness it embodied evaporated as four other shapes detached themselves from it, drifting off its corners to hover on either side of the two prongs.

He recognized it then. It was a gunship.

An American gunship so well hidden even the MAGI hadn't conjured it prior to now. The four smaller craft were no doubt UAVs—the drones were being commanded from pilots inside belly of the catamaran probably; the weapons barge would be one part AWAC, one part carrier, and one part missile truck. It was some testament that the first—and so far only—thing the Americans had scrambled was this monster. There was a military base not too far away, he remembered. Unfortunately the decommissioned Second Branch could have probably added to the defensive weight—but they were too busy tearing it inside out. The aerial defense grid would be in the highest alert of its entire history to try and match SEELE's foes at the coast; five minutes ago marked a historical first for American mainland to be bombed from the air by enemy planes. It had to be SEELE, no country was crazy enough to try something like that.

The drones scattered with a whoosh, exemplifying an agility he wouldn't have expected and, further proof they were unpiloted—human pilots couldn't accelerate like that. The missiles poured out of its top next. Streams and streams of white trails bursting forth from the black shapes, snaking their way towards the growing sparkles on the horizon. The amount of explosives flying free was incomprehensible, uncountable.

Suddenly the catamaran's pontoons began to spark as the white mist above it continued to gather.

_Of course, they're magnetic drivers—a miniature railgun._

The flash was sun-like in intensity, the sonic boom a roar reaching him through his helmet. A car's rear window beside him and cracked in and onto its occupants. Shinji looked back to the coastline and saw one of the sparkles now on fire. But the other four were growing all the time.

The drones might slow them down but it wouldn't be enough. This was SEELE; they would have expected and planned for this sort of response. Another explosion thundered somewhere in downtown, the sparkle's counter-offensive. The catamaran would be irrelevant when they had gotten sufficiently close to the city. They would have to use some other weapon to not destroy San Francisco in the process. He blared through the red light with no further hesitation.

* * *

The men started lowering themselves, their ropes making a tight screeching as they slipped down them. Touji watched them, head peeking barely over the window's edge as the students around him cowered underneath desks or anything else they could find. They trembled silently. Touji had already given up on the shredded civilian clothes, revealing the black glory of the plugsuit in full. Most seemed too terrified to ask him what it was or what he was doing. He engaged the progressive knife with a soft whir and crept to the stairs above the nearest entrance ignoring the students' frightened inquiries.

"Touji, don't go out there," someone pleaded to him. Conditioning refused to let him voice the unnecessary response.

When he was out of sight of the other students he engaged the chameleouflage, and blurred to nothing above the wide steps.

The grenade blew the doors off their hinges and inward. They stormed in with professional soldiers' grace, taking corners and sweeping their surroundings in tight, controlled motions; the effort expended bespoke months of VR practice for these moments. He would have to count on that inflexibility to work toward his advantaged.

The rifles gleamed black, new, and deadly. Touji was familiar with the model; it could turn bones to jelly with the proper ammunition.

They ignored his distortion in their haste, quickly spreading out onto the first and second floors. There were no audible orders which meant they were probably all linked via throat mics. That would make things more difficult.

Touji felt his nerves shudder and then tighten back down under Envoy control as one of them nearly ran into him, disappearing around the corner he lay pressed against. This was his first real combat experience. It was in many ways nothing like he had expected, but he shut down the fear and let the conditioning take over.

Follow him. Slit his throat so you disable the mic. Gently, gently now.

Touji listened and crept behind the jogging shape. The man turned into a classroom at random, eliciting a collective scream.

"Shut up! Who here knows Touji Suzuhara, Rei Ayanami, Shinji Ikari, or Asuka Souryu?" The voice was thick with a Russian accent.

Touji finally recognized the uniforms.

"They're Spetznaz," Touji sub-vocalized to his partners, keeping his eyes locked on the shape of the man. "Be careful."

He continued creeping forward. Slowly, slowly.

"Someone answer me! Now!"

Silence answered his demands. He seemed so impossibly far down the hall, the class' door too far to reach.

"Do you all want to die?"

Touji saw through the windows someone had stood up.

"I—I know Touji…" he said, raising a hand meekly, not looking the soldier in the eye.

The man turned like a hunter, leveling the weapon from his hip to point on the child's chest. Touji was behind him now, crawling through the open doorway. He saw the teacher shaking helplessly behind his desk, eyes squinted shut and hands clasped tightly over his ears.

"Where is he?" the soldier barked.

"I…" The kid was shaking. He was a freshman. "I don't know."

The assault rifle blew through his body as if it wasn't there, taking the wall and windows behind him as well. Everyone started screaming again though none of them moved.

"Anyone else _not_ know where they are?" he asked of the room, satisfied.

Touji struck overly ambitious and, the vibrating knife cleaved his head clean off. He made sure not to let the blood get on his suit despite the mistake. More people screamed again, as the body fell to its knees, then to the floor. The head rolled into the wall to look up and the shuddering teacher, jaw flapping loosely.

Touji exited noiselessly. He saw a confused attacker inching his way up the hallway, flush against the wall and rifle aimed on the spot where Touji had just been—some sort of optical tracer was engaged over one eye but it would never catch the plugsuits careful chameleouflage. They knew how to fight chameleouflage but the plugsuits left none of the telltale signatures of the normal designs NERV had reluctantly bartered. They didn't know how to fight plugsuits—no one did. Its unusual abilities were an indulgence afforded only with the mysterious S2 Unit's capabilities.

As he crept toward his next victim, Asuka spoke through the private channel. She sounded tense, voice tight with Envoy control.

"Little problem here. My camouflage has cut out. Think they've spotted me."

* * *

She dug the knife into the shoulder blade and pulled him closer to her chest, ignoring the feeble scream. She wielded his freshly cut firing arm haphazardly, bursting rounds back at the ducking shapes while trying not to veer too close to where students lay. They returned fire, peppering their comrade in the ensuing "clak-clak" and silencing his sobs. She left the body and bolted for the window with the weapon in hand, bracing it in front of her as she dove. She tumbled into the courtyard with a spray of glass, nearly landing on another startled soldier.

Her foot swept under him, trying to trip the assailant but he jumped back and lowered the rifle. She sprung before the burst had fired, ramming an elbow clear through the barrel of the gun and one of his arms in her haste. He collapsed to his knees and lay crying and clutching the mangled stump. She put two rounds into his back and bounded away as one of the white VTOLs turned in her direction; the smooth white shapes of its nose cone looked feral as they tracked her, alive.

She heard the telltale spin up of the minigun and her instincts ignited nerves in the legs of the suit, accelerating her beyond a human pace and across the space of the building in seconds. The space behind her churned in noise and gunfire as the cannon went to work, shredding the building's wall in the hail of fifty-caliber shells. She made it to a wide enough tree trunk and dove—listened to it splinter under the barrage as she crouched. Bark spewed above her head as the gun cut through the wood like a barbaric chainsaw, and the tree toppled into the side of the building. The orb in her stomach began to glow, its charging finally complete.

She willed the AT Field into being and the sound of the fire ceased, leaving the empty whirr of the rotating cannon.

"Verdammt!" she swore, picturing her mother's arms around her just as she'd been taught in practice. The orb glowed harder.

* * *

Rei spun from her spot on the ceiling in time to see the glow of tracers spew into the side of a skyscraper, gouging a hole into the multi-national's glassy face. She ignored the shock, and dashed towards the white menace. Below her the soldiers corralled students, forcing them onto their knees; she'd even seen a few lifted up into the belly of one of the VTOLs, their crumpled forms not struggling as they disappeared.

Dust from her sprint would give her away if she was too slow.

She focused, imagining the field pushing up beneath her feet as she sprung towards the nearest craft, its overheated barrel still spinning as the pilot attempted to work off the excess heat for another barrage.

The plane jerked sideways in the air attempting to turn and face her; it was too late. She was already above it, fist primed with all of the kinetic energy she'd generated for the leap. She landed onto and through its nose, fist plunging through layers of white armor and deeper into the crumbling softness that she knew to be a human. She plunged the fist further digging until she clenched something that her suit acknowledged had electrical field. It clicked harmoniously, nano-circuits attempting and succeeding at an interface.

"Asuka, can you?" she said through gritted teeth, struggling to stay on the nose as the plane stumbled in the air drunkenly.

Her chameleouflage faded with the power drain, illuminating her to the bewildered soldiers below.

"Working on it, Blue. Don't let that thing buck you off before I'm finished," Asuka replied through their comm.

The plane swayed and swerved dangerously close to the tree tops before righting itself.

"Got it?"

"Steering's going to be a bitch, you tore through most of their fly-by-wire. Fire control on the other hand…" the German replied, something gleeful and wicked entering her voice.

The minigun cut swathes through the dumbfounded soldiers, kicking up chalky dirt into a powdery mist; the line of fire was careful to stay away from the children huddled together outside. The men scrambled for cover and disappeared under the hail of bullets, leaving behind not much more than red stains on the torn up turf.

"Goood. Let's see what else we have here…" Asuka hummed in her ear, delighted at the mayhem.

The three remaining planes spun angrily towards Rei but did not attempt to fire on her yet.

"Feeling a little exposed here, Asuka…" she reminded.

Two missiles screamed, tugging free from underneath her craft and narrowly missing the nearest plane; they careened harmlessly into the sky, fuses cut.

"Damn! They're culling my intrusion into the higher-level systems. They have linked nets!"

Beneath her, Rei watched with curious, impossible calm as the remaining soldiers regrouped, dispersing themselves into the crowds of huddled children. They began to kneel and take pot shots at Rei, misses sparking off the white armor with a metallic thrum.

"Asuka…" she said, impatience clear.

"Russian swine! Hold on, Rei."

The plane bobbed and wove over the lip of the buildings and into the center of the courtyard. The three others turned to follow her with calculated smoothness.

"They have a lock! Jump! Rei!" Asuka shrieked.

She did, and she floated impossibly slow—too slow towards the roof. _I am going to die._ She felt herself pushed violently forward in the air with the shockwave of the plane exploding behind her, flames licking her back. The pain was a distant, unreal thing. As she careened into the branches of the tree she saw the red blur of a sports bike plow several soldiers into the wall of the school. An unarmed Shinji rolled to a stop behind it, picked himself up and darted behind a tree.

_But Ikari doesn't have a suit on._

It was her last complete thought as the world fracture away under the dull thunk of a branch against her body.

* * *

_I won't let them have her. I won't let you._

They dragged Asuka across the grass by the feet.

The steel fingers of the spider on his back tickled his spine, trying a new combination of sedatives. His vision blurred, resisting. Think, the conditioning begged him.

Rei is MIA. Touji is MIA. Asuka is disabled but _not dead_. Shinji is disabled but _not dead_.

_Still time. I still have…_

The cool tap of the spider's legs on his neck again, prickling, stirring, trying to finish the job.

He vomited, his body's last defense. A useless gesture, the drugs were being administered through the skin. He looked up to find the dark smile of a Spetznaz officer, staring down at his convulsing form. He secured the straps of the harness around him.

"This one should be fun," he said not entirely to Shinji. He watched with vulture eyes. "Got plenty of fight in him."

His eyelids were fluttering shut. Giving in to the crushing forces on his brain. The spider stopped twitching and let go, satisfied.

Inside now. Where? Russian drowned his mind before it thankfully accepted and the conditioning translated their lullaby gently, unable to do any more for him now.

"The other two are dead, I think. We have to get the fuck out of here. Aerial grid is coming down like a hammer. Priority request to launch from sortie."

The darkness of the chamber invaded his sight.

"Acknowledged."

G-forces crushed him, relenting him to slumber. Auburn hair danced in his last moments of vision and then disappeared.

_Twelve Fin_

* * *

A/N: I hope that was as awesome as I imagined. I don't have too much to say about this chapter. It's something I've been thinking about writing since I started the story. It didn't come out quite how I intended but I like the end result. I'd like to point out my expediency in releasing this chapter! Probably the closest together consecutive chapters I've written for the story(!) Thirteen will come when it comes. I already know how I'm going to do it and fourteen so fear not.

Have a sweet week! Ja ne!


	13. Death and Rebirth

**Neon Genesis Evangelion**

**A Thousand Years of Secrecy**

**Disclaimer: **I did my best to stick to the story guidelines here. That said, seriously, this is an M rated story and you need to understand that you shouldn't be reading it if you can't handle M-rated content.**  
**

* * *

**Thirteen – **_The Death and Rebirth of Shinji Ikari_

"_He wandered the desert in his madness, comforted by neither man nor beast. The dead were his company."_

The room was small. His feet were very cold. They had taken his shoes and socks. His cheek stung from its position on the dirty floor. He was drooling. Slowly he willed the limbs back into action. They ached with every stretch, every tensing as he tried to fold into himself, to curl up and touch his feet in their numb suffering. He was not in his old clothes.

The hospital gown stank of regurgitations and urine. After minutes spent rubbing absently at the pins and needles galloping up his ankles he gave up on the revival and tried pulling himself off of the floor. As he sat up his head spun and the motion ended prematurely, smacking his temple back onto the grimy floor. He moaned at the sudden jolt, conditioning unable to kill the reflex in time. It hovered behind a gray fog of drugs and a tingling amnesia.

He heard the sounds of a lock jingle as he winced, scratching at the wound on his head.

A door somewhere near his feet slid open. And slid shut again. The lock jingled again. The moment blew through him. Captured. Alone. SEELE.

_I'm going to die here._

He refused the fear of the realization, as did his conditioning.

* * *

They might have picked him up later that day. He assumed it could not have been much more than a few hours because hunger was only beginning to manifest when he heard the sounds of the lock again. They would have set it up that way on purpose. It would become a mnemonic to try and play on his terror—he would come to associate that sound with fear if he did not temper himself carefully. 

Two of them entered huge and muscular; they spoke terse angry Russian to which Shinji pretended he couldn't understand. The conditioning leapt at the chance to keep a one up and in return he was beaten for his hesitant movements. Not very hard, just enough to get the point across that he should listen to them regardless of language.

They put on the blindfold and led him with steel cuffs around his wrists. Shinji felt the strange, cardboard-like presence of old derms still stuck to his arms in clusters. They had been keeping him under for some time he imagined.

The walking stretched into slow pain as various surfaces passed under the raw skin of his bare feet. He entered some other chamber after a swift shove to his back when the arms released him. There was still cold in this place, a different sensation to the air telling of a larger room and ventilation. He shivered. It smelled like diesel fuel galvanized metal.

"What is your name?" a voice demanded of him.

Conditioning froze his tongue. Give them nothing, it said, and Shinji listened.

"What is your name?" the voice said again, patience reeking from its tone. The conditioning recognized that as a person in complete control and well aware of it.

Shivering and waiting, he said nothing. A blow to the head threw him to the floor but the blindfold held. He did not bother to waste his energy on a struggle. No point yet.

"What is your name you _fucking retard_!" it shouted at him but the patience slipped through the false anger.

A kick to his stomach. He tasted blood in his mouth.

"Tjaden, put him in the chair," the same voice said in the soft Russian of an educated background. Middle class, a family man perhaps, with a good paying government job; but it also had the undertone of dangerous, hard work.

Large hands moved him onto a wooden stool with a back. Shinji held limp and did not respond to the touch.

"Last chance: what is your name?"

Shinji quivered a little in the freezing air but held fast. His conditioning allowed him an inner, smug defiance.

"Okay, fuckface. We have other ways of asking."

Someone pulled off the gown's pants suddenly so that he was nude from the waist down in the chair. He already knew what would follow. Shinji tuned his ears to steps of the large man, ignoring the Russian comments about the "little boy" and such; when the boots' soft click returned he timed his dive springing from the chair. He aimed well and his cuffs knocked wind out of the large fellow in a hollow gasp as the two of them heaped to the floor. From somewhere else in the room he could hear Russian voices laughing and jeering at this "Tjaden."

The bigger man retaliated swiftly, fists pummeling the blind boy easily. Shinji refused to give him any verbal satisfaction for his part, remaining silent through the onslaught. His nose began to bleed, trickling into his lip.

"That's enough Tjad', put him back in the chair."

The blows ceased. The plastic cups of the electrodes came next. The large hands tried to place them onto his genitals but he struggled, shouting and kicking at them; he bit and clawed at what little he could find of the larger man. A fist connected below his jaw, painting the black of the blindfold into swirling fireworks. When he awoke, his fists were chained behind himself and his legs cuffed to the legs of the chair. He tried standing but the chair was bolted to the floor. The sticky adhesive of the electrodes made his testicles itch.

He trembled in the silence and the cold licked anew at his exposed skin.

"Shall we have one more go then? Your name, Ikari? Your full name?"

Shinji shook in the silence, waiting for the sterile cups to ignite. They did.

The pain was like condensed and constricting fire. It shot through his loins into the rest of his body, muscles jumping into spasm with the surprise of it. He screamed, unable to contain it as his jaw wrenched open. He howled part rage, part suffering. The blood pouring from the bite in his tongue seemed invisible under its barrage. His thighs convulsed, trying desperately to sheer the circles off with quivering inability. His screams continued, until his lungs ran out of oxygen and then his mouth just hung open, wet sounds sputtering out of his throat as it gasped and then released the breath immediately. It did not stop, and though he could count his rapid heartbeat, the searing in his flesh seemed to last longer. It ended as quickly as it began and his stiff spine slumped back into the chair, nerves exhausted. He hung in place now like a marionette with ruined strings.

"Your name, Ikari?" said the voice, gentle and patient. Almost sympathetic.

He held the silence and the pain came again. A little longer this time. He howled again until it too resigned itself to quick panting gasps. It stopped.

"Your name is Shinji Ikari. _Say it_."

Give them nothing, conditioning murmured. He trusted its voice.

It started again. His howl grew wet, drunken. The noise was like a slobbering dog now.

"Name. Now."

He refused his lips.

Started again. He gurgled as the spit sloshed over parched lips.

"Your name."

And again…

* * *

Sometimes they came in the night. Sometimes in the day. Sometimes while he slept. Soon they stopped him from doing that. The cold seeped through everything—the paper-thin scrubs—his bones. He never touched the bread and water. They let him wear himself into weakness, slapping derms on often enough to keep him alive and nothing more. 

They gave up on the drugs. Conditioning had eaten the receptors in the brain and spat out every cocktail they could put into him leaving him dazed and unresponsive to even the most violent of stimuli.

A lifetime's training evaporated under sagging malnutrition. Bruises took longer to heal. His outbursts became feebler, sluggish. They would make an old man out of him yet.

He began to find his other place, the conditioning's last reserve. They'd trained it into him with minimal hurt and heavy doses of meditation: Envoys knew all contingencies, even though they were supposed to be dead long before torture could occur.

He began to watch himself being tortured. Always by shadows. Always in the darkness. Kensuke began to speak to him, asking how he was doing. Talking about old times.

At first he was a voice. Then he would be in the corner of the room sometimes, back against the wall, just watching with a disinterested gaze and making idle chitchat. Eventually Shinji joined him over there. And watched the little boy be tortured.

Time bled. It became uncountable. Agonies stretched. Peaces evaporated. But he gave them nothing—_nothing_.

Misato would come. One day. Some day. And they would die. Oh they would die, in the most _wonderful_ of ways. It delighted him to imagine them making the same sounds that they produced from him. Some day they would get theirs. Oh yes. _Yes_.

* * *

"Man he's a fucking mess," Kensuke muttered. "I've never seen him like this." 

"He's hurting alright," Shinji replied. They both starred at the boy curled fetal into the corner of the room.

"What's today? Any ideas," the other asked. They wore the identical black and white of their Tokyo-3 high school uniforms. Both kept their hands in their pockets. Shinji leaned against the wall and Kensuke stood beside him.

"Nah. Can't have been more than a week or two though," Shinji replied.

"Started him off pretty hard didn't they…"

"Yup. They haven't even started on the psychological stuff."

"They're the Spetz'. I read up on them. All they know how to do is brute force," Kensuke cajoled darkly.

"They know how to do plenty of things," Shinji replied in equal tone.

"Does he sleep much?" Kensuke adjusted the glasses on his nose slightly, dainty care revealing itself behind the freckles. He ran fingers through the blonde scruff.

"Not really. Just a little awake all the time, you know."

"You're his conditioning, why can't you just… put him to sleep?" Kensuke replied, confused.

"He doesn't… listen as well as he used to," Shinji replied, eyes narrowing at the dirt-smeared scrubs. The pale blue was fading fast under the dark grit of the room.

"Well you've gotta admire his determination," Kensuke said with an inevitable sigh.

The lock jingled. The boy twitched nearly invisibly.

The shadow hands came and dragged the youth to a stand, not bothering to inflict any further violence on the mess of a human. The boy could barely hold himself upright with their thick arms supporting him. They we're gentle now. The sympathy was still false but it yanked at heartstrings Misato had never cut properly, daring the child to cry.

"Come on little one."

"Fucking sadists," Kensuke shouted at the shadow hands, trudging out of the room and after them. Shinji followed at his shoulder.

The boy's feet scraped limply on the linoleum, occasionally bouncing over some obstruction. They put him in a new room and sat him down into a steel chair.

"I smell butane," Kensuke said, voice shaking slightly behind the mask of control. Fear lurked somewhere in that voice. It's medical calm and clarity shook.

They pulled the blindfold off him revealing a room with high windows and two bearded European faces methodically setting up a variety of steely looking equipment on the table before him.

They could see snow flurries dancing through the frosted glass in an endless downward waltz.

"Siberia," Shinji whispered, walking over to them to get a better look. But too much of the view was obscured by the blizzard outside to give him any more detail.

"I smell butane, Shinji," Kensuke mumbled again.

One of the Russians withdrew a tiny chrome gun, its hose attached to a white canister on the table. He brought it in front of the face of the child and waved it back and forth playfully.

"You know what is?" he asked in his best cordial English.

"Give them nothing, child," Shinji reminded from his spot beside Kensuke's nervous stare, glancing away from the window.

The boy did not look at the tool, eyes drifting on the gunmetal floors.

The Russian growled, giving up and storming back over to his partner.

"Are the antibiotics ready?" he said under the Ukrainian accent.

"Ja," the other replied.

He returned to the sitting child swiftly. As the flame of the torch ignited, the child's eyes jumped to it momentarily. Then locked onto it—an expression of total confusion was his face.

"Oh God," Kensuke muttered, turning away.

They started asking the child questions. After several were left unanswered, the man stuck the blue point of light under his earlobe. The scream was a bubbling groan that grew to a shriek as the undamaged nerves shook his brain. The sobs didn't end when the heatgun pulled away.

"There, there," the Russian said softly, patting him on the shoulder. He started asking questions again.

The child's jaw shook, clinching unclenching, as his eyes searched uselessly for the black and crimson line driven through his ear. The man brought the blue point close again and grabbed hold of his second ear. The boy screamed before they brought the point of light any closer.

"You remember the time we saw Keiko undressing through the crack in the door of the girl's locker?" Kensuke shouted desperately at him. "Man, do you _remember_ that?"

"Yeah, she was… pretty," the boy replied, voice wobbling.

"Good," Shinji said to Kensuke quietly. "Keep him there. Keep me out here."

The Russian turned to look at his partner, shrugging.

"Progress," the man said. "Try the other ear."

They tried the other ear. The boy made animal noises and struggled against the chains.

"_NOOO!"_ the scream boomed as the blue touched his flesh.

Shinji grabbed at his ear, then released it, his hand coming away with blood.

"Fuck… they're getting through. Keep me talking Kensuke."

Kensuke kept the boy talking. They had a conversation about all the good times in Tokyo-3. They moved to his fingers. They talked about times with Misato. Now the thumb. Its pink flesh blistered white and then crumpled to a black flakey substance. They talked about Rei. Now the other digits. One by one, changing the colors. They talked about fantasies about Misato and nights spent drinking. They moved down to his left foot. The toenails boiled away, become part of the skin beneath. They talked about Asuka. Talked about his first kiss. Now the right foot. The blue light moving like a lazy moth in slow, delicate circles. They talked about the bike ride to the Second Branch. Talked about her eyes. Those beautiful eyes.

"I love those eyes," the child sobbed from his hunched position in the chair as his feet kicked and then gave up on kicking.

His feet were black flakey blobs now, vaguely conforming to their original shape. Sheets of ashy skin rose from the surface, blown free by drafty gusts through the room. His left hand had a similar quality. Several of the fingers fused together under the carefully maneuvered fire, turning it into a stump beneath the wrist.

"This is going nowhere," the Russian at the table announced, annoyed. "Give him the meds and take him back."

They slapped the derms on the boy's arm and led him back out of the room. As his feet scraped the floor he screamed again but his voice was ruined now, so they were wet strangled noises instead. Pieces of his flesh trailed behind on the gunmetal floors while the Russian beside him hummed some folk song, ignoring the agony he inflicted.

"No feet…" Shinji said. "Can't run now. With the swelling I won't fit into their boots. The storm would kill me without boots. Can't get outside."

"Ritsuko will grow you new ones," Kensuke reminded from his side as they trailed in the red and black streaks of the whimpering child.

Shinji regarded him with an air of indifference. "They aren't coming," he said gently.

"Of course they are, Shin—"

"Too long. They would have been here already. SEELE has either killed them or they're fighting to live. They won't expend resources on me. The council has plenty of viable alternatives. The Child Envoy program is already over."

"You don't know, maybe Misato…"

"Misato will follow orders. And the orders are to leave me here."

"That is then?" Kensuke asked, defeated.

"I'll stop his heart when they start electrocutions again."

Kensuke stuck his hands in his pockets, expression still glum. "It's for the best I supposed."

* * *

The child quaked as the misery of the swelling, mutilated skin scrapped itself on the metal floor with each subtle movement. The shakes would not leave him as the antibiotics from the derms they'd slapped on his unscarred skin tried desperately to fight infection against the germs itching to get to the under-cauterized flesh. 

The pain drowned Shinji's vision, making him dizzy. He sat on the floor next to a pensive Kensuke as they watched the crippled boy struggle against the signals his nerves kept sending. Shinji panted, fighting to stay in control.

The stench of the room was one of cooked meat. The olfactory reminder tugged at memories of the abuse Shinji struggled to strangle.

"This is getting bad," he muttered, rubbing at his temple. "They're using me up on the pain. I can't dissociate for much longer if they keep this up."

"They knew Envoys have anti-torture routines. Why bother with all this?" Kensuke whispered behind him, tracing the scar lines of fire across the bare ankles and into the pulpy mess below.

"Don't know."

The lock jingled. The shadow hands raised him up and mercifully placed him in a wheelchair with a minimum of screaming. The squeaky wheels echoed off metallic walls and Shinji quickly recognized the turns in the route as leading back to the largest chamber and the voice with no face.

They secured the chains on his wrist, not at all careful to avoid the scarring which made the child shriek and pull away. A slap to the head lulled him back into his previous stupor.

"Not too hard Tjad'. We want him _here_ this time."

"Take it off."

The shadow hands blurred into a slow focus as someone removed the blindfold. Colors jumped out of the darkness, forming into a myriad of uniforms. Across the room a collection of disinterested soldiers smoking and speaking to one another greeted his slow acclimation to the harsh fluorescents.

"Nice to see you again," said the one in the center. Shinji recognized it as the man from the first electrocution session. The terribly patient voice.

"What are they up to?" Kensuke growled from over the strapped down boy's shoulder. Shinji mirrored his pose behind the other shoulder.

"Bring her in," the man said aside and one of the soldiers disappeared out a different entrance. Shinji recognized the squeak of another wheelchair.

"What…" Kensuke said. His eyes blinked rapidly behind the eyeglasses.

She rolled through the entrance, red hair obscuring the face aimed down. But then she looked up at the boy.

"Who the—oh, oh my God. You—what are you doing here—oh…"

The tears began as if of their own accord as the girl's eyes traced the damaged form of the person she'd once knew. The horror knitted into her brow further and further with every second as she was pushed and close and closer towards him and the details were revealed in all their gory care.

This was no Shinji Ikari. It was a pale, mangled imitation of the original. Three of his limbs ballooned in to sickening imitations of their previous shapes. They were all shades of black and gray and pink. Raw and bleeding. His face was a collection of bruises like a perpetual mist covering over any recognizable expression. His muscles were nearly evaporated, hidden behind clusters of fresh and peeling derms.

"No… no, my Shinji. No, no, no, no… what have they _done_ to you? What… _have they done_?" she whispered, eyes never leaving his form.

"Asu…" the boy gurgled.

"Hold it. Hold onto yourself," Kensuke pleaded, shaking Shinji. He too watched her with planted fixation.

"Ka."

"You fuckers." She turned away as the clear lines drew down her cheeks; she cried, head shaking under red bangs.

"You will find her unharmed, Shinji. And that is exactly how she will remain if you answer a few questions for us," the voice began.

"I—I can't—" Shinji struggled against Kensuke's restraining grip, grasping at strands of the red hair and coming up short. The boy looked towards the man with the voice dumbly, then back at the girl.

The questions started. Shinji looked at the trembling form of Asuka, then back to the interrogators. All of the bored men and turned their gazes on him, like hungry tigers. They waited, licking their maws behind smoldering ends of tobacco.

"No? Nothing? Very well." The voice sighed. "Tjaden, you may undress her. Slowly, please."

Asuka struggled in place as the silver glinting knife appeared from its sheath and went up silently through the sleeve of her scrubs. One shoulder cut free, flopping forward to reveal the teenager's bare chest. Tjaden grinned, the whites of his teeth gleaming in the gloom of the room.

Asuka spat and the phlegm landed in his eye. He chuckled, then backhanded her swiftly.

Dad backhanded her swiftly.

"Not in the face, Tjad'," the voice disapproved.

"Shinjiii," Kensuke growled. "Don't go there, Shinji. This is not that place…"

The knife slipped through the other sleeve.

She struck her feet into his nearest shin, weeping.

He punched her stomach.

Dad. Punching her over and over again. _Why? Why daddy? Mommy's hurt, can't you see?_

Asuka grunted as her body sagged. Tjaden ripped the rest of the scrubs free, revealing her pale naked body to him and the rest of the room. The men grinned from behind their cigarettes watching with a dulled fascination.

Dad was smiling as her tooth came out and skittered across the kitchen floor. He'd never looked so happy.

"Shinji!" Kensuke said from some far away place. His skin was melting away to nothing, like Shinji's ruined limbs. The hair on fire in the nuclear holocaust and should have turned him to ashy nothing in less than a second. _He isn't so near now, hard to hear. Behind the explosion._

Tjaden began unbuckling his belt, motions clumsy with the anticipation. Asuka shook, fear reeking from the blue eyes that stared up at the huge Russian.

_Mommy's eyes, looking at you from the floor. She was so scared._ _Why couldn't you do anything?_ _"Run" she mouths at you. "Run away."_ _Is that what you're going to do?_

Tajden's pants slipped to the floor. He looked back at the voice.

"Shinji?" the voice asked, looking at him. But the boy's vision was locked firmly on the pair of them. Another sigh. "Go ahead, Tjaden."

_Mommy was hurting so bad. And daddy, bringing his fists down on her over and over again. So you crack the door open even further and pounce at him. But what can you do? Your hands are so small and his so big. You couldn't protect her then. You can't protect her now. When will it be enough? When?_

Misato's crumpled form on the floor, kicked again by the grinning JSSDF. Mother's soft smile as the blood pools into her eye. Asuka's blue eyes, terrified.

_When will it be enough?_

_Now._

"That's fucking _enough_," the boy did not say. He bellowed with the wind of a thousand mountaintops, the roar of a thousand lions, the boom of a thousand N2 mines. The voice was like boiling lead in a blast furnace. It did not make sound—it annihilated it.

The darkness of the room evaporated under the white shinning butterfly's wings. They sprouted from somewhere behind the wheelchair and grew larger, filling up the volume of space. Their intricate filaments divide and sub-divide into a fractal fudge of luminescence. The lines are white and blue majestic, burning like the nucleus of a sun. Tjaden's uncomprehending eyes are split in two by them. Then the stunned mouths with cigarettes falling away and the voice that was always calm, always patient. And her blue eyes shut as the blinding brightness grows further still. The light of a thousand years of secrecy revealed fully.

_Thirteen Fin_

* * *

A/N: Hmm. Sometimes I hate this chapter. I feel like I came close but missed the mark. I guess I'll leave that up to revising. I'm sorry if I disappointed anyone or any expectations for this chapter. It's a little short. It's a little repetitive but I like to tell myself that's on purpose. Mostly, it's just supposed to be clinical, horrible, and all to real. This is why you should be afraid of the word "rendition" when this administration says it. This is why people really don't like the idea of Gitmo. Not to get too political, but lets face it, torture really sucks. No Japanese lesson this chapter. 

I'm not sure what happened to some of my readers (okay most) but I'm always glad to see new excited faces. I'd be lying to say I'm not a little disappointed by this story's reception but I know it's far from perfect--if you could see what I'm doing with my revisions of the earlier chapters you'd do backflips. Anyways, I won't stoop to pleading for reviews or anything like that. But spread the word if you enjoyed it. As I've said before, I'd rather have five enamored readers than fifty half-interested ones. Find someone you know that would like this and is missing out. Or just enjoy it yourself. Blah. I'm getting all whiny. Please excuse my blunt tongue; I'm home for the holidays and my parents come back the day I'm leaving. Love and peace guys. Here's hoping you have a better week than Shinji just had. ;)_  
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